Weak Iron Ore and Oil Prices Drag Australian Indexes Lower

Marcus Jacob
14 Jan, 2015
New York City

Australian market indexes closed down after iron ore price declined below $69 a ton and crude oil price fell to a six-year low in international markets. Chandler Macleod Group received a takeover proposal from Japan-based Recruit Holdings at 82% premium.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney – Australian market indexes closed down after iron ore price declined below $69 a ton and crude oil price fell to a six-year low in international markets. Chandler Macleod Group received a takeover proposal from Japan-based Recruit Holdings at 82% premium.[/R]

Australian market indexes struggled to trim early losses by afternoon and indexes turned lower and closed down at close.

Australian dollar closed at 80.92 U.S. cents and in stock-trading turnover gained to 710 million shares worth $4.54 billion.

ASX 200 Index slipped 51.10 or 0.9% to 5,353.60 and broader All Ordinaries Index fell 49.90 to 5,332.20.

In commodities trading, gold slid $6 to US$1,229 an ounce and light crude oil fell 25 cents to US$46.51 a barrel. Brent crude declined 47 cents to close at US$60.11 a barrel.

Australian Stock Movers

Chandler Macleod Group Ltd closed unchanged at 29 cent after the outsourcing and recruitment group said that Japan-based Recruit Holdings Co Ltd plans to acquire a stake in the company of about $360 million.

The proposal of 53 cents per share is a premium of 82.8% of the Chandler’s closing price of today.

Fortescue Metals Group Limited plunged 8.2% to $2.34 after the iron-ore prices declined to below $69 a ton.

Transurban Group rose 0.1% to $8.83 after the toll road network operator said revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in December surged 63.5% to $373 million compared to same-quarter a year ago.

For the first-half period revenues soared 63.7% to $737.7 million from a year ago period.

The company said average daily toll revenues from the 495 Express Lines segment in the U.S. for the quarter climbed 51.1% to US$97,153 from US$64,277 in the same period a year ago.

Whitehaven Coal Limited gained 1.3% to $1.21 after the coal producer reported saleable coal production for the fourth-quarter ending in December plunged 17% to 2,380 metric ton and sales declined 7% to 2,949 metric ton.