Australian Stocks Recover 2%, Murdoch in Third Divorce

Marcus Jacob
14 Jun, 2013
New York City

Australian market indexes closed higher following gains on Wall Street and in Asian markets. The Australian dollar dipped to a new 3-year low but recovered at close. News Corp chief, 82 year old, Rupert Murdoch filed to divorce his 44 year wife after 14 years of marriage.

[R]5:00 PM Sydney – Australian market indexes closed higher following gains on Wall Street and in Asian markets. The Australian dollar dipped to a new 3-year low but recovered at close. News Corp chief, 82 year old, Rupert Murdoch filed to divorce his 44 year wife after 14 years of marriage.[/R]

Australian stocks rebounded following higher closing in New York in overnight trading and market gains in Asia.

The ASX 200 index climbed 96 or 2% to close at 4,791.80 and the broader All Ordinaries jumped 90.60 to 4,775.50. For the week ASX 200 dropped 2.7%.

Australian dollar closed at 95.82 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover declined to 789 million worth $5 billion. The dollar dipped to a 3-year low of 93.25 in the early trading.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said employers added 1,100 jobs in May and unemployment rate remained at 5.5% in the month of May. Economists had anticipated a decline of 10,000.

Stocks in Review

Rio Tinto soared $2.41 or 4.7% to $53.98 and BHP jumped 79 cent to $32.91. Woodside Petroleum Limited gained 40 cents to $34.89.

David Jones Limited rose 8 cents to $2.42 and Breville Group added 22 cents to $7.43.

Woolworths climbed 50 cents to $32.08.

Mirvac Group increased 3 cents to $1.59. Lend Lease advanced 30 cents to $9.35.

Westpac jumped 76 cents to $28.94, Commonwealth climbed 2% to $67.10 and National Australia Bank increased 3.6% to $29.38 and ANZ surged 3% to $27.82.

ASX Limited plunged 6.1% to $33.15 after the exchange operator raised $267 million through institutional investor offering and intends to raise additional $286 million from individual investors.

The exchange operator intends to repay all debt on its balance sheet and is looking for a merger deal.

News Corporation rose 0.9% to $32.41 after the controversial media conglomerate is on track to split the news and entertainment division at the end of this month.

Separately, Rupert Murdoch, chairman of the company filed for a divorce in New York court and the company spokesman said it will not affect the shareholder ownership and its operations.

Murdoch, 82 year old divorced his second wife about 15 years ago and paid $110 million cash and $1.7 billion in settlement. Murdoch with Wendi Deng of 44 years old, the third wife has two daughters who are also shareholders in the company.

NIB Holdings Limited gained 1.8% to $2.24 after the private health insurer lowered full-year consolidated pre-tax underwriting profit estimate to between $75 million and $78 million.

The insurer expects revenue of the insurance premium for the year in the range of $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion but earnings per share are expected to exceed last year earnings.

Transurban Group rose 0.3% to $6.88 and toll-road operator has decided to transfer ownership of the Pocahontas Parkway toll road in Virginia, U.S. to lenders.