Australian Indexes Extend 3-Day Losses, Worleyparsons Plunge 26%

Marcus Jacob
20 Nov, 2013
New York City

Australian stocks closed lower and resource sector led the decliners after construction services provider Worleyparson issued a profit warning. WAB accepted revised cash $9 a share offer. Leighton Holdings subsidiary won a coal mining expansion contract worth $550 million.

[R]4:30 PM Sydney – Australian stocks closed lower and resource sector led the decliners after construction services provider Worleyparson issued a profit warning. WAB accepted revised cash $9 a share offer. Leighton Holdings subsidiary won a coal mining expansion contract worth $550 million.[/R]

Australian stocks closed lower for the third day in a row and mining and resource sector stocks led the decliners after Worleyparsons issued a profit warning.

Australian dollar added to 93.99 U.S. cents. In stock trading, turnover rose to 752 million shares worth $4.3 billion.

The ASX 200 index dropped 45.20 or 0.8% to close at 5,307.70 and the broader All Ordinaries slumped 43.20 to 5,304.60.

Stocks in Review

Rio Tinto declined 43 cents to $64.73. BHP fell 35 cents to $37.55. Woodside Petroleum Limited dropped 39 cents to $38.11.

Westpac slid 12 cents to $32.42.

Air NZ declined 6.1% to $1.39 after the New Zealand Government sold its 20% stake to raise $324 million.

Leighton Holdings Limited slipped 2.2% to $16.32 and the engineering construction company’s subsidiary Thiess won work expansion at Lake Vermont coal mine in Queensland worth $550 million.

Worleyparsons Limited tumbled 25.9% to $16 after the professional service provider lowered its earnings forecast for the year as trading conditions in Australia and Canada disappointed and expected underlying net profit for the year in the range of $260 million to $300 million from earlier guidance of more than the prior year''s $322 million profit.

Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory Co surged 17.2% to $9.28 after the dairy products maker said if its shareholders accepted Saputo’s takeover offer of $9 cash a share.

WDS Limited soared 12.7% to 84.5 cents after the board of the mining specialist service provider declared the first interim quarterly dividend of 1 cent per share fully franked, payable on December 19.