Australian Indexes Trim Weekly Losses

Marcus Jacob
11 Jul, 2014
New York City

Australian market indexes gained and Aussie dollar closed below 94 U.S. cents. Fortescue Metals quarterly production increased but annual production fell below guidance. Transfield Services won $250 million military base management contract.

[R]5:00 PM Sydney – Australian market indexes gained and Aussie dollar closed below 94 U.S. cents. Fortescue Metals quarterly production increased but annual production fell below guidance. Transfield Services won $250 million military base management contract.[/R]

Australian stocks traded higher after precious metal prices firmed up. Market indexes trimmed losses in the week and Aussie dollar traded below 94 U.S. cents.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported the number of home loan approvals in May were unchanged from April, beating estimated decline of 0.5%. A total of 52,092 loans were issued after adjusting for seasonal factors in May for owner occupied housing.

Australian dollar closed at 93.87 U.S. cents and stock trading turnover declined to 610 million shares worth $3.69 billion.

ASX 200 index increased 27.60 or 0.5% to 5,492 and the broader All Ordinaries gained 20.30 to 5,474.60. For the week end, ASX 200 fell 0.7%.

Stocks in Review

Downer EDI Limited slipped 0.9% to $4.54 after the engineering and construction company secured $40 million maintenance contract from Western Australia’s Public Transport Authority in partnership with Bombardier Transportation Australia.

Fortescue Metals Group Limited fell 0.2% to $4.34 after the iron ore producer failed to reach its full-year export guidance despite record fourth quarter result.

For the year, the miner shipped 124.2 million tons, below the guidance of 127 million tons.

Roc Oil Company Limited climbed 3.5% to 58.5 cents after the oil and gas explorer received second takeover offer from an undisclosed source. Earlier the oil and gas producer also received undisclosed offer in late June.

The company started merger talks with Horizon Oil.

Transfield Services Limited closed unchanged at $1.27 after the infrastructure development service provider won contract to manage defence installation in Australia worth $250 million.