Weak Prospects in Job Market Weigh on Australian Indexes

Marcus Jacob
08 Jul, 2013
New York City

Australian indexes declined 0.7% after rallying for two days on the weakness in precious metal prices and weak market sentiment in Asia. Virgin Australia completed the 60% stake purchase in Tigerair. Rio Tinto received an approval to ship copper from Mongolian venture.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney – Australian indexes declined 0.7% after rallying for two days on the weakness in precious metal prices and weak market sentiment in Asia. Virgin Australia completed the 60% stake purchase in Tigerair. Rio Tinto received an approval to ship copper from Mongolian venture.[/R]

Australian stocks declined after a two-day rally and the dollar drifted to a new 34-month low and touched 90 U.S. cents.

The ASX 200 index slipped 32.20 or 0.7% to close at 4,809.50 and the broader All Ordinaries fell 28.80 to 4,797.60.

Australian dollar traded near a 34-month low at 90.63 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover dropped to 588 million shares worth $3.1 billion.

Australian job placement ads declined for the fourth month in a row in June by 1.8% after falling 2.5% rate in May, ANZ bank said in a private survey. The ad placements are running 19% lower than a year ago month.

Stocks in Review

Rio Tinto declined $1.06 to $51.64 despite the company receiving clearance from Monglia to start shipments from Oyu Tolgoi copper mine.

BHP slipped 65 cents to $30.95 as miners declined and precious metal linked resource company fell for the second day in a row.

Woodside Petroleum Limited jumped 30 cents to $36.19.

David Jones Limited fell 6 cents to $2.52 and Breville Group rose 4 cents to $7.19.

Woolworths slid 16 cents to $32.53.

Mirvac Group lowered 3 cents to $1.65. Lend Lease added 1 cent to $8.55.

Westpac decreased 1 cent to $28.34 after Gail Kelly chief executive said “low credit growth, forcing banks to compete for market share.”

Commonwealth closed unchanged at $68.99 and National Australia Bank dropped 1% to $28.87. ANZ slumped 27 cents to $28.13.

RHG Limited surged 15% to 46 cents after the residential loan provider company recommend takeover bid from a consortium including Resimac and Australian Mortgage Acquisition Company.

Virgin Australia Holdings Limited jumped 2.3% to 44.5 cents after the budget airline completed the purchase of a 60% stake in Tigerair and installed former ABC and ASX chairman Maurice Newman to the board of Tigerair Australia.