Weekly Loss of 0.6% in Australian Index

Marcus Jacob
12 Sep, 2014
New York City

Australian indexes closed lower on Friday and for the week dropped 0.6%. Weak iron ore price in Shanghai trading overshadowed domestic news. Pacific Brands annual sales rose nearly 4% but swung to a loss.

[R]5:00 PM Sydney, Australia – Australian indexes closed lower on Friday and for the week dropped 0.6%. Weak iron ore price in Shanghai trading overshadowed domestic news. Pacific Brands annual sales rose nearly 4% but swung to a loss.[/R]

Australian stocks edged lower and for the week market indexes declined 0.6%.

Australian dollar traded at 91.71 U.S. cents and in flat stock trading turnover was 698 million shares worth $4.66 billion.

ASX 200 index fell 15 or 0.3% to 5,531.10 and the broader All Ordinaries index slid 14.60 to 5,532.30. For the week, ASX 200 fell 0.6%.

Stocks in Review

Pacific Brands Limited slipped 1.9% to 51 cents after the consumer product maker reported revenue in the year ending in June jumped 3.9% to $1.32 billion from $1.27 billion.

Net in the year swung to a loss $224.5 million compared to profit of $73.8 million and diluted loss per share swung to 24.6 cents from earnings per share of 8.1 cents a year earlier.

Karoon Gas Australia Ltd declined 2.9% to $3.75 after the gas explorer said revenue in the year ending in June plunged 27.7% to $7.81 million from $10.81.

Net loss in the year narrowed to $5.19 million compared to $10.9 million and diluted loss per share dropped to 0.02 cents from 0.05 cents a year earlier.

Whitehaven Coal Limited fell 0.8% to $1.88 after the coal producer said total sales in the year ending in June soared 21.4% to $755.4 million from $622.2 million.

Net loss in the year narrowed to $38.4 million compared to $88.7 million and diluted loss per share dropped to 3.9 cents from 9 cents a year earlier.