Australian Indexes at a New 5-Year High

Marcus Jacob
21 Oct, 2013
New York City

Australian market indexes advanced and the dollar advanced. Woodside Petroleum third quarter energy production dropped 17% and revenues fell 27%. RHG jumped 1% after it accepted revised takeover offer from Resimac.

[R]4:30 PM Sydney – Australian market indexes advanced and the dollar advanced. Woodside Petroleum third quarter energy production dropped 17% and revenues fell 27%. RHG jumped 1% after it accepted revised takeover offer from Resimac.[/R]

Australian market indexes gained and the dollar jumped above the parity as investors focused on domestic earnings regional economic developments.

Australian dollar jumped to 96.73 U.S. cents. In stock trading, turnover declined to 684 million shares worth $3.4 billion.

The ASX 200 index jumped 30.30 or 0.6% to close at 5,351.80 and the broader All Ordinaries increased 30.50 to 5,351.50.

Stocks in Review

Rio Tinto gained 30 cents to $63.75.

BHP jumped 45 cents to $36.20 after the diversified natural resources company exited with BG Group from 10 oil and natural gas exploratory fields in India that were awarded at government licensing auctions.

Australian miner will continue to explore deepwater field in Mumbai basin with BG Group plc.

Woodside Petroleum Limited rose 18 cents to $38.34 after the oil and gas explorer said revenue in the third quarter declined 26.8% to $1.34 billion from $1.83 billion a year ago.

The company reported production in the quarter dropped 17.4% to 21.9 million barrels of oil equivalent compared to 26.5 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Westpac added 8 cents to $34.08.

Macquarie Atlas Roads Limited slid 0.8% to $2.50 after the toll roads, bridges and tunnel operator said its toll revenue in the quarter ending in September climbed 5.3% after the higher traffic volumes and revised toll schedules.

In the third-quarter, total revenue from Illinois surged 13.6% and from U.K. jumped 14.7%.

Mineral Deposits Limited climbed 4.4% to $2.85 after the mineral sand producer said its Africa projects “remains on track” and will start production in the first quarter of 2014.

Qantas Airways Limited declined 5.6% to $1.35 after the airline company expects the lowest yields in more than a decade.

Chief Executive Alan Joyce said returns on fares in the first half are likely to decline 2% to 3% compared to the same period of last year.

Ramsay Health Care Limited jumped 30 cents to $37.15 after the private hospital operator’s French subsidiary is in talks to acquire Medipsy for an undisclosed amount.

RHG Limited increased 1% to 48.5 cents after the Australia-based residential home loan provider agreed on takeover offer of a 50.1 cents per share cash offer from Resimac and the Australian Mortgage Acquisition Company.

The transaction is expected to complete in February.