Australian Indexes Struggle as Oil and Coal Trade at Multi-year Low

Marcus Jacob
18 Sep, 2014
New York City

Australian market indexes edged lower after crude oil price heat a two-year low. With the weakening demand from China, coal and iron ore prices also traded lower. Arrium Limited plunged 29% after the energy explorer completed first tranche of $754 million.

[R]5:00 PM Sydney, Australia – Australian market indexes edged lower after crude oil price heat a two-year low. With the weakening demand from China, coal and iron ore prices also traded lower. Arrium Limited plunged 29% after the energy explorer completed first tranche of $754 million.[/R]

Stocks in Sydney opened higher and lost momentum in the afternoon trading after a weakness in banks and resource stocks.

Australian dollar traded at 89.70 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover gained to 982 million shares worth $5.49 billion.

ASX 200 index edged up 8.50 to 5,415.80 and the broader All Ordinaries index rose 7.60 to 5,419.

International prices of oil, coal and iron ore prices were under pressure and are likely to trade sideways as companies with grapple with oversupply and weakening demand from China.

Crude oil price traded at $93.83 a barrel for the next month delivery.

Stocks in Review

Arrium Limited tumbled 29.2% to 40 cents after the oil and gas explorer completed the first stage of its institutional fund raising and raised about $465 million and launched $289 million entitlement offer for retail investors with a total target of $754 million.

Oroton Group Limited surged 12.3% to $4.10 after the luxury goods retailer said revenue in the year ending on July 26 soared 25.5% to $124.9 million form $99.5 million a year ago period.

Net profit in the year plunged 84.5% to $4.8 million compared to $31 million and diluted earnings per share declined to 20.15 cents from 66.99 cents a year earlier.

Wesfarmers Ltd fell 0.6% to $42.86 after the department store operator said the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission would not oppose the acquisitions of three IGA supermarkets by the company.

Worleyparsons Limited slid 0.2% to $16.14 after the engineering company secured contract from Chevron Munaigas for wind park project in Kazakhstan for undisclosed financial terms.