Australian Dollar Eases, Qantas Soars 13% on Earnings Outlook

Marcus Jacob
08 Dec, 2014
New York City

Australian dollar eased and market indexes gained for the second day in a row in active trading. Qantas is set to report its best first-half results and the airline is expected report pre-tax profit of as much as $350 million helped by lower fuel prices and weaker dollar.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney – Australian dollar eased and market indexes gained for the second day in a row in active trading. Qantas is set to report its best first-half results and the airline is expected report pre-tax profit of as much as $350 million helped by lower fuel prices and weaker dollar.[/R]

Australian market indexes extended gains for the second day in a row and banks led gainers.

In active trading in smaller companies, most resource companies traded lower after another decline in gold, silver and crude oil prices.

ANZ Bank survey showed total number of job ads in November jumped 0.7%, highest in 23-months and 10% higher from a year ago month..

Australian dollar closed at 82.83 U.S. cents and in stock-trading turnover slipped to 728 million shares worth $4.3 billion.

ASX 200 Index gained 37.40 or 0.7% to 5,372.70 and broader All Ordinaries Index rose 35.30 to 5,348.90.

In commodities trading, gold declined US$9 to US$1,194 an ounce and light crude oil slumped 97 cents to US$65.84 a barrel.

Australian Stock Movers

McAleese Ltd closed unchanged at 25 cents after the transport and logistic company reaffirmed its estimate of 2015 financial full-year earnings in the range of $90 million to $95 million.

Newsat Limited decreased 2.6% to 18.5 cents after the satellite communications provider secured 5-years contract for $9 million of Jabiru-1 Satellite for commercial coverage in Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Qantas Airways Limited surged 13.8% to $2.39 after the airline company forecasted underlying pre-tax profit for the first-half for the fiscal 2015 between $300 million and $350 million from a reported loss of $252 million in the same period a year ago.

Saunders International Ltd increased 1.1% to 90 cents after the construction company secured a contract worth $16 million to build petroleum storage tanks for a terminal in South Australia.