Australian Indexes Rebound from Morning Shock

Marcus Jacob
16 Oct, 2014
New York City

Australian market indexes managed to shake-off morning losses in active trading following wild swings in the U.S. and European markets. Crude oil continued to slide in international markets and Aussie dollar closed below 88 U.S. cents. Banks led the gainers.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney – Australian market indexes managed to shake-off morning losses in active trading following wild swings in the U.S. and European markets. Crude oil continued to slide in international markets and Aussie dollar closed below 88 U.S. cents. Banks led the gainers.[/R]

Australian markets plunged as much as 1% at the opening following sharp sell-off in the U.S. and European markets in overnight trading.

Market indexes in New York plunged nearly 2% after crude oil prices declined to a new four-year low and European markets dropped on the worries that the latest policy response will fall short of market expectations.

Market indexes on Wall Street have fallen more than 8% and wiped out all the gains in the year so far. The latest decline was the third in the year and the largest that spanned nearly one month.

In Europe, market indexes plunged as much as 11% from the peak in the last five weeks and bond yields of Greece, Italy and Spain shot up.

Australian dollar closed at 87.89 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover climbed to 1.11 billion shares worth $6.92 billion.

ASX 200 Index rose 9.30 to 5,254.90 and broader All Ordinaries Index gained 6.30 to 5,244.30.

Australian Stock Movers

Alumina Limited closed unchanged at $1.59 after the mining company sell its 55% stake in the Jamalco alumina refinery in Jamaica to Noble Group for US$140 million.

Stockland Corporation Ltd closed unchanged at $3.99 after the real estate developer sold half of the stake in Townsville shopping centre to the AMP Capital managed Fund for $228.7 million.

Ten Network Holdings Limited closed unchanged at 20 cents after the media company reported revenue in the year ending in August declined 4.2% to $601.7 million from $628.3 million a year ago period.

Net loss in the year narrowed to $168.3 million compared to $285 million and diluted loss per share declined to $6.51 from $12.69 a year ago period.

Woodside Petroleum Limited closed unchanged to $39.66 after the oil and gas explorer lifted its full-year production estimated by 15.1% to 25.2 million barrels of oil equivalent compared to better than expected result in the September quarter.