Resource Stocks Lead Ausralian Rebound, Flat Home Loans in July

Marcus Jacob
09 Sep, 2014
New York City

Stocks in Australia gained after a slight rebound in resource stocks and the Aussie dollar edged lower. New home loans values issued in July were flat at $17 billion.

[R]5:00 PM Sydney, Australia – Stocks in Australia gained after a slight rebound in resource stocks and the Aussie dollar edged lower. New home loans values issued in July were flat at $17 billion.[/R]

Australian market indexes rebounded after three days of weakness on a slight gain in resource stocks.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported seasonally adjusted home loans in July increased 0.3% to 52,251 from downwardly revised 0.1% gain in June.

The new home loans issued for owner-occupied house was flat in July at $17.06 billion from a year ago, a decline from 1.7% gain in the previous month.

Investment loan jumped 6.8% to $11.513 billion from a year earlier and rose 0.1% from June.

Australian dollar closed at 92.67 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover jumped to 604 million shares worth $3.65 billion.

ASX 200 index gained 30.90 or 0.5% to 5,607.90 and the broader All Ordinaries index increased 29.30 to 5,608.20.

Stocks in Review

Brambles Limited fell 0.4% to $9.48 after the containers and pooling solution provider announced the acquisition of U.K.-based Ferguson Group for an enterprise value of $584.10 million or £320 million.

Decmil Group Limited jumped 1.4% to $1.88 after the engineering and construction group a won contract worth $19.88 million to construct pedestrian bridge at Elizabeth Quay in Perth, Western Australia in a joint venture with Hawkins Civil.

Lend Lease Group climbed 2.1% to $14.30 and the infrastructure company led a consortium to win a preferred bidder status for the first stage of Melbourne''s $8 billion East West Link toll road.

The company will also build a new NorthConnex motorway in Sydney in a joint venture with French construction group Bouygues valued $3 billion.

Worleyparsons Limited increased 0.8% to $15.91 after the engineering service provider agreed to buy U.S.-based MTG oil and gas consulting group for an undisclosed amount.