Australian Mining Sector Fallout Spreads

Marcus Jacob
23 May, 2014
New York City

Australian markets traded higher in volatile week of trading and mining services company face the brunt of slowdown in the sector. Australian dollar eased but traded near elevated level. Treasury Wine Estates jumped 5% on the speculation of a rival bid.

[R]5:00 PM Sydney – Australian markets traded higher in volatile week of trading and mining services company face the brunt of slowdown in the sector. Australian dollar eased but traded near elevated level. Treasury Wine Estates jumped 5% on the speculation of a rival bid.[/R]

Stocks in Sydney closed higher after a volatile day of trading and managed to recover in the week from the sharp decline of 1% on Monday.

Slowdown in mining services was confirmed by another mining service contractor after Lycopodium Limited cut its annual earnings estimate by half.

Australian dollar dropped to 92.43 U.S. cents and stock market trading turnover rose to 727 million shares worth $4.11 billion.

ASX 200 index increased 12.90 or 0.2% to 5,492.80 and the broader All Ordinaries gained 12.20 to 5,470.30.

For the week, ASX 200 rose 0.2%.

Stocks in Review

Rio Tinto fell 42 cents to $60.54. BHP closed unchanged at $37.65. Woodside Petroleum Limited slid 0.3% to $41.61.

Westpac Banking Corp increased 33 cents to $34.19.

Dick Smith Holdings Ltd closed unchanged at $2.14 after the consumer electronics retailer reaffirmed its annual net profit estimate of $40 million.

Jacka Resources Ltd tumbled 40% to 0.051 cent after the oil and gas explorer lifted its underlying profit guidance for the year between $43 million and $46 million.

Lycopodium Limited plunged 15% to $2.48 after the mining services contractor lowered its annual net earnings estimate to $4 million from the previous estimate of $9.5 million and from the prior year earnings of $22.5 million.

Regis Resources Limited tumbled 25% to $1.71 after the company issued an operating update and production guidance for 2015.

Spotless Group Holdings Ltd advanced 7.2% to $1.72 after the cleaning and catering company made a strong share market debut today at its initial public offering.

The stock jumped to $1.75 compared to its issue price of $1.60.