Australian Indexes Extend Gains Despite Weak Oil and Gold

Marcus Jacob
07 Nov, 2014
New York City

Australian market indexes surged 0.8% in the first week in November after rising 4% in October in active trading. The Aussie dollar edged lower and the gold and oil prices continued to slide for the sixth week in a row. Ten Network surged on takeover speculation. Orica received final offer.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney – Australian market indexes surged 0.8% in the first week in November after rising 4% in October in active trading. The Aussie dollar edged lower and the gold and oil prices continued to slide for the sixth week in a row. Ten Network surged on takeover speculation. Orica received final offer from a buyout group.[/R]

Australian market indexes extended gains in the session and closed up on Friday and surged 0.8%.

The benchmark index advanced 4% in October and the index added more gains in the first week in November on the hopes that central banks in Europe and the U.S. are ready to provide more stimulus to support the economic expansions.

Australian dollar declined to 85.52 U.S. cents and in stock-trading turnover climbed to 942 million shares worth $6.05 billion.

ASX 200 Index jumped 43 or 0.8% to 5,549.10 and broader All Ordinaries Index gained 42.90 to 5,522.10. For the week, ASX 200 increased 0.2%.

In commodities trading, gold slipped US$11 to US$1,135 an ounce and light crude oil slumped 77 cents to US$77.91 a barrel.

Australian Stock Movers

GDI Property Group Limited jumped 2.9% to 90 cents after the real estate investment company agreed to sell the office tower at 233 Castlereagh St in Sydney for $156 million.

Lionhub Group Ltd closed unchanged at 16 cents after the property developer agreed to acquire 1.92 square kilo-meters of land to develop a proposed Ecological and Industrial Park in China from Lian Huat Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Lian Keng Enterprises Pte Ltd.

Orica Ltd gained 1.7% to $20.25 after the U.S.-based private equity holder Bain Capital Partners LLC and Blackstone Group LP proposed final offer of $1 billion for the explosives and blasting systems maker.

Scentre Group Limited slipped 1.4% to $3.56 after the shopping centers developer agreed to sell a stake in five shopping malls in New Zealand to GIC Pte Ltd for $930 million.

Ten Network Holdings Limited surged 17.4% to 27 cents on the speculation that the pay TV operator Foxtel and the U.S. cable channel operator Discovery are likely to jointly bid for the company.