Australian Indexes Advance, Domino's to Acquire Japanese Unit

Marcus Jacob
13 Aug, 2013
New York City

Australian stocks closed higher on the back of a surge in banking and resources stocks. The pizza delivery company Domino

[R]4:45 PM Sydney – Australian stocks closed higher on the back of a surge in banking and resources stocks. The pizza delivery company Domino’s is looking to acquire the franchise in Japan. Mining service company Bradken surged more than 12% on upbeat 2014 outlook.[/R]

Australian stocks opened higher and after struggling for one hour gained more advanced and closed up sharply.

Australian dollar dropped to 91.23 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover climbed to 831 million shares worth $4.4 billion.

The ASX 200 index jumped 49 or 0.9% to close at 5,157.70 and the broader All Ordinaries gained 47.80 to 5,141.60.

Stocks in Review

Rio Tinto climbed 79 cents to $62.62 and BHP rose 15 cents to $36.96 and Woodside Petroleum Limited gained 28 cent to $38.66.

David Jones Limited added 4 cents to $2.78 and Breville Group dropped 15 cents to $7.23. Woolworths jumped 30 cents to $33.30.

Mirvac Group slid 1 cent to $1.64 and Lend Lease increased 9 cents to $9.16.

Westpac gained 10 cents to $31.18 and the bank is in a race to bid for Lloyds Banking Group Plc’s Australian assets valued $1 billion.

Commonwealth jumped 1% to $74.55 the bank is likely to post cash profit for the year of $7.6 billion compared to $7.1 billion on August 14 according to several analysts estimate.

National Australia Bank climbed 37 cents to $31.06.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd jumped 1.1% to $29.87 and the Japan based financial service provider Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. is in talks with the bank to buy 39.2% stake in Bank Pan Indonesia for $570 million.

Bradken Limited surged 12.4% to $5.89 after the mining service provider reported revenue in the year declined 10% to $1.3 billion. Net profit for the year tumbled 33% to $66.9 million.

Domino''s Pizza Enterprises Ltd closed unchanged at $11.82 after the pizza chain reported total network sales for the year jumped 5.4% to $848.6 million and revenue climbed 11.3% to $294.9 million. Net profit for the year climbed 13% to $28.7 million.

During the year, Domino''s opened 67 net new stores.

Mirabela Nickel Limited plunged 7.8% after nickel miner reported loss in the first-half widened to $68.9 million.

Stockland Corporation Limited dropped 2.9% to $3.70 after the property developer said revenue in the year dropped 13.5% to $1.73 billion from $2 billion a year ago. Net income for the year plunged 79% to $104.6 million compared to $487 million a year earlier.

Underlying profit for the year declined 27% to $494.8 million from last year. The company wrote-down $355 million on residential developments in the year.

Tatts Group Limited rose 30 cents to $3.10 after the gambling company contract to buy a Brisbane site from construction and mining company Watpac Limited worth $8 million.