Australian Dollar at a Fresh 11-Month Low

Marcus Jacob
17 May, 2013
New York City

Australian dollar dropped to a new 11-month low and market indexes traded higher in a choppy trading. Wesfarmers issued earnings warnings and blamed weather and excess inventories at stores. WorleyParsons cut its annual earnings outlook.

[R]5:00 PM Sydney – Australian dollar dropped to a new 11-month low and market indexes traded higher in a choppy trading. Wesfarmers issued earnings warnings and blamed weather and excess inventories at stores. WorleyParsons cut its annual earnings outlook.[/R]

Australian stocks gained in choppy trading and the dollar dropped to a new 11-month low as resource prices in international markets remained under pressure.

The market sentiment has been on the wane after the release of federal budget this week and the government reversed its earlier estimate of surplus to a large deficit.

The ASX 200 index gained 15.10 to 5,180.80 and the broader All Ordinaries rose 15.60 to 5,159.60. For the week, ASX 200 fell 0.5%.

Australian dollar slipped to 97.48 cents against the U.S. dollar and in stock trading turnover dropped to 829 million worth $4.7 billion.

Stocks in Review

Rio Tinto climbed 61 cents to $55.29 and BHP jumped 65 cents to $34.41.

Woodside Petroleum Limited increased 59 cents to $38.29.

David Jones Limited fell 3 cents to $2.76 and Breville Group up 1 cent to $7.21. Woolworths slipped 31 cents to $34.40.

Mirvac Group lowered 2 cents to $1.77. Lend Lease plummeted 34 cents to $10.47.

Westpac down 5 cents to $31.35, Commonwealth rose 0.5% to $73.21 and National Australia Bank added 0.1% to $33.09 and ANZ climbed 1.3% to $30.26.

SP AusNet gained 1.6% to $1.29 after the State Grid Corporation in China acquired 19.9% stake in the company from Singapore Power International for $3.2 billion.

The SP AusNet reported revenue for the year jumped 6.8% to $1.6 billion and net profit climbed 9.5% to $279 million and earnings per share dropped 5% to 8.5 cents

Wesfarmers Limited dropped 2.9% to $42.93 after the retailer said annual earnings qre likely to decline 43% on the late start of winter, excess inventory and higher costs.

WorleyParsons Limited plunged $2.79 or 12.5% to $19.50 after the professional service provider estimated full-year net profit after tax in the range of $320 million to $340 million compared to underlying earnings of $345.6 million a year ago period.