Australian Indexes in Third Weekly Decline, Echo Sells Jupiters Complex

Marcus Jacob
24 Jan, 2014
New York City

Australian market indexes extended losses for the third week and the Aussie dollar edged to a 3-year low. Echo Entertainment agreed to sell its Jupiters Townsville hotel complex for $70 million.

[R]4:30 PM Sydney – Australian market indexes extended losses for the third week and the Aussie dollar edged to a 3-year low. Echo Entertainment agreed to sell its Jupiters Townsville hotel complex for $70 million.[/R]

Australian market indexes extended losses for the second day in a row and the Aussie dollar drifted to a new 42-month low.

Australian dollar declined to 86.96 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover rose to 732 million shares worth $4.04 billion.

The ASX 200 index slipped 22.10 or 0.4% to close at 5,240.90 and the broader All Ordinaries fell 21.20 to 5,254.30.

For the week, ASX 200 dropped 1.2%, third weekly loss in a row.

Stocks in Review

Rio Tinto gained 49 cents to $65.16, BHP closed unchanged at $37.04. Woodside Petroleum Limited rose 11 cents to $38.13.

Westpac dropped 32 cents to $31.12.

Echo Entertainment Group Ltd closed unchanged at $2.41 and the leisure and entertainment service provider agreed to sell its Jupiters Townsville casino to hotel and brewery operator Colonial Leisure Group for $70 million.

The transaction will allow to bid to build a new casino and entertainment resort in Brisbane.

Nufarm Limited slipped 1.9% to $4.09 after the crop protection products maker estimated earnings before income and tax for the first-half ending in January between $50 million and $60 million, in-line with the year earlier.

Reject Shop Ltd plummeted 31.9% to $11.50 after the Australia-based discount retailer reported sales in the first-half ending in December climbed 17.7% to $385.5 million and estimated net profit-after-tax for the period between $16.6 million and $16.9 million, lower than the $20.1 million a year ago period.

The retailer added underlying EBITDA in the first-half was in the range of $36.5 million to $37 million, an increase of 5.2%.

For the full-year, the group estimated net profit-after-tax between $17 million and $18 million and plans to open 12 new stores in the second-half of fiscal 2014.

ResMed Inc declined 4.9% to $5 after the medical equipment maker said revenue in the first-half ending in December grew 2% to $384.3 million and net income plunged 11% to $86.6 million from a year earlier.