Australian Markets Inch Higher, Fortescue Q3 Production Surges

Marcus Jacob
17 Oct, 2013
New York City

Australian indexes closed higher but the Aussie dollar edged lower. USG Corporation agreed to pay $575 million to form a joint venture with Boral Limited. Fortescue Metals third-quarter production surged and iron ore miner reaffirmed its decline in full-year shipment outlook.

[R]4:30 PM Sydney – Australian indexes closed higher but the Aussie dollar edged lower. USG Corporation agreed to pay $575 million to form a joint venture with Boral Limited. Fortescue Metals third-quarter production surged and iron ore miner reaffirmed its decline in full-year shipment outlook.[/R]

Australian stocks closed higher and the dollar declined after U.S. averted a debt default with a last minute agreement to reopen government and revise debt ceiling till the middle of February.

Business finance commitments rose 7% to $34.4 million but personal lending commitments slipped 2.6% to $7.8 million, said Australian Bureau of Statistics today.

Australian dollar weakened to 94.42 U.S. cents. In stock trading, turnover climbed to 883 million shares worth $4.5 billion.

The ASX 200 index increased 20.20 or 0.4 to close at 5,283.10 and the broader All Ordinaries gained 17.50 to 5,281.90.

Stocks in Review

Rio Tinto slipped 40 cents to $63.71 and BHP added 2 cents to $35.80.

Woodside Petroleum Limited dropped 52 cents to $38 and reported revenue in the third-quarter ending in September declined 26.8% to $1.34 billion from $1.83 billion a year ago. This followed 17% drop in production to 21.9 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Westpac fell 3 cents to $33.21.

Boral Limited climbed 5.9% to $5.03 after the construction materials supplier and its U.S. based USG Corporation agreed for a 50/50 joint venture. USG will pay $575 million to Boral in cash, total of joint venture valued $1.6 billion with operations in 12 countries.

The deal is expected to complete in January 2014.

Fortescue Metals Group Limited dropped 2.9% to $5.24 after the iron ore producer reaffirmed its full-year production guidance and expects full-year shipments to decrease to 127 million tons and 133 million ton a year ago.

Fortescue added shipment in the third quarter ending in September surged 61% to 25.9 million metric tons from 15.4 million tons a year earlier.

Ten Network Holdings Limited slipped 1.7% to 28.5 cents after the television and media company reported annual revenues of $630.1 million and net loss of $285 million.

The network announced a new four-year debt facility of $200 million, guaranteed by shareholders.