Rio Tinto to Cut Staff at Iron Ore Headquarter, Australian Stocks Rebound

Marcus Jacob
19 Jun, 2013
New York City

Australian stocks closed higher but the dollar struggled as iron ore prices remained weak in international trading. Rio Tinto eliminated 500 middle management positions in its iron ore division.

[R]5:00 PM Sydney – Australian stocks closed higher but the dollar struggled as iron ore prices remained weak in international trading. Rio Tinto eliminated 500 middle management positions in its iron ore division.[/R]

The ASX 200 index jumped 47 or 0.9% to close at 4,861.40 and the broader All Ordinaries gained 47.20 to 4,841.80.

Australian dollar closed at 94.93 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover was declined to 730 million worth $4.1 billion.

Stocks in Review

Rio Tinto climbed 83 cents to $54.38 and BHP rose 30 cent to $32.99. Woodside Petroleum Limited jumped 82 cents to $35.65.

David Jones Limited soared 10 cents or 4.2% to $2.49 and Breville Group closed unchanged at $7.40.

Woolworths increased 54 cents to $32.57.

Mirvac Group added 4 cents to $1.69. Lend Lease gained 17 cents to $8.62.

Westpac slipped 22 cents to $29.23, Commonwealth slid 0.2% to $68.36 and National Australia Bank up 1% to $30.04 and ANZ fell 0.1% to $28.35.

CFS Retail Property Trust gained 1.5% to $2.07 after the real estate investment company agreed to sell its four shopping centers in Victoria State.

Charter Hall Retail REIT jumped 2% to $4.05 after the property investment company with super fund Core Plus paid $458 million for Bankwest housing headquarter and for the largest retail space in Perth.

News Corporation plunged $2.26 or 6.9% to $30.53 ahead of spin-off of the newspaper assets scheduled tomorrow. Robert Thomson will act as a chief executive officer of the publishing group and Rupert Murdoch will assume chairman’s position.

Transfield Services Limited gained 1.4% to 74 cents after the infrastructure developer won two contracts for the works of the National Broadband Network in Victoria valued $366 million and $66 million.

Whitehaven Coal Limited surged 4.3% to $2.20 after the coal producer sold 9.9% stake at $2.96 a share valued $301 million to US based investment firm, Farallon Capital Management.