Australian Mining Industry Capex at a 10-Year Low

Marcus Jacob
11 Jun, 2013
New York City

Australian stocks closed higher but the weakness in resource sector dragged the market sentiment. Mining industry capital expenditure index hit a new low in a decade in April, according to a private survey. Virtus Health soared on first day of trading.

[R]5:00 PM Sydney – Australian stocks closed higher but the weakness in resource sector dragged the market sentiment. Mining industry capital expenditure index hit a new low in a decade in April, according to a private survey. Virtus Health soared on first day of trading.[/R]

Australian stocks closed higher but the weakness in the resource sector dampened the market sentiment.

The latest private survey conducted by NAB indicated mining industry capital expenditure was at its low in a decade in April and business conditions were worst in the period.

The ASX 200 index rose 19.40 to close at 4,757.10 and the broader All Ordinaries gained 19.60 to 4,748.90.

Australian dollar closed at 94.12 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover dropped to 765 million worth $4.6 billion.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported home loan demand in April increased 0.8% to 48,475.

Stocks in Review

Rio Tinto fell 20 cents to $53 and BHP up 1 cent to $33.10. Woodside Petroleum Limited jumped 45 cents to $35.38.

David Jones Limited closed unchanged at $2.46 and Breville Group gained 9 yen to $7.24. Woolworths slid 1 cent to $31.99.

Mirvac Group fell 5 cents to $1.58. Lend Lease rose 8 cents to $9.39.

Westpac increased 21 cents to $27.81, Commonwealth gained 0.6% to $65.40 and National Australia Bank added 0.2% to $28.40 and ANZ up 0.7% to $26.88.

ASX Limited was in a trading halt after the stock exchange operator prepared to launch its offering to raise as much as $500 million.

Virtus Health Limited soared on its first day of trading and traded as high as $6.22. The healthcare company priced its public offering for $5.68 a share.

G8 Education Ltd. surged 6.3% to $2.52 after the Australia based child care service provider plan to acquire 17 premium locations from vendors in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

Gindalbie Metals Ltd. surged 21% to 11.5 cents and China based Ansteel agreed to restructure debt terms for the Karara project in Western Australia. Ansteel agreed to extend bridging loans of $1.3 billion and Gindalbie stake will be reduce from 50% to a 47.84%.

NRW Holdings Limited declined 7 cents or 6.5% to $1.01 after the civil and mining contractor lowered its full year earnings and revenue guidance due to delays in the award of new contracts and now expects to be nearly $1.3 billion with after-tax profit in the range of $73 million to $76 million.

The GPT Group increased 1.1% to $3.76 after the property developer can finance $2 billion to acquire and develop property.

WorleyParsons Limited rose 0.8% to $19.27 after the engineering services contractor secured Kansanshi copper smelter development in Zambia.