Largest Weekly Loss in Australian Indexes in Eighteen Months

Marcus Jacob
16 Jan, 2015
New York City

Australian market indexes extended weekly losses and closed down over 3%, the largest decline in eighteen months. ALS Limited, the testing lab services provider rose on positive outlook. National Australia Bank and State Bank of India sign agreements for project finance business.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney – Australian market indexes extended weekly losses and closed down over 3%, the largest decline in eighteen months. ALS Limited, the testing lab services provider rose on positive outlook. National Australia Bank and State Bank of India sign agreements for project finance business.[/R]

Australian market indexes opened lower and quickly deepened downward draft as investors stayed away from taking position at the end of week where indexes fell most in a year and a half.

Investors were also unnerved by a sharp policy reversal at the Swiss National Bank after the central bank abandoned its central tenet of its monetary policy, anchoring the currency to the euro.

The surprise move stunned currency traders and the Swiss franc soared as much as 41% against the euro before subsiding to an increase of 14%.

Australian dollar closed at 82.35 U.S. cents and in stock-trading turnover slipped to 731 million shares worth $5.2 billion.

ASX 200 Index slid 32.20 or 0.6% to 5,299.20 and broader All Ordinaries Index fell 31.80 to 5,278.80.

For the week the ASX 200 declined 3.2%, the largest weekly losses in eighteen months.

In commodities trading, gold gained $29 to US$1,231 an ounce and light crude oil declined US$2.23 to US$46.73 a barrel. Brent crude declined 47 cents to close at US$49.51 a barrel.

Australian Stock Movers

ALS Limited climbed 2.9% to $4.84 after the testing and inspection service provider reported total group revenue in the third-quarter ending in December rose 0.8% to $376 million compared to $373 million a year ago period.

The testing laboratory estimated underlying net profit in the quarter at $40 million, slightly ahead of previous quarters.

Australian Dairy Farms Group dropped 2.2% to 22.5 cents after the Canada-based billionaire Desmarais family acquired 5.7% stake in the milk producer.

National Australia Bank Ltd slid 0.4% to $33.37 after the financial service provider signed an agreement with India-based State Bank of India on project finance and offer services to Indian student and traveler community.

TFS Corporation Limited declined 3% to $1.62 after the India-based sandalwood plantation manager finalized $24 million investment from a new institutional investor in the company’s Beyond Carbon sandalwood plantation of 400 hectares.

The company said the transaction was completed by an Australian financial institution on behalf of a Hong Kong-based institutional investor.