Stock Trading Volume Soars in Sydney, Woolworths Plunges 10%

Marcus Jacob
27 Feb, 2015
New York City

In active trading, market indexes in Sydney rebounded and the Aussie dollar traded near 78 U.S. cents. Cabcharge first-half revenues declined 2.1% and net fell 13%. Graincorp estimated lower operating and net income in fiscal 2015. Woolworths first-half net declined 3.8%.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney – In active trading, market indexes in Sydney rebounded and the Aussie dollar traded near 78 U.S. cents. Cabcharge first-half revenues declined 2.1% and net fell 13%. Graincorp estimated lower operating and net income in fiscal 2015. Woolworths first-half net declined 3.8%.[/R]

Australian stocks rebounded from the weak opening and closed up and trading volume soared to a high in the year so far.

Australian dollar closed at 77.96 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover advanced to 1.2 billion shares worth $8.9 billion.

ASX 200 Index gained 20.30 or 0.3% to 5,928.80 and broader All Ordinaries Index rose 20.60 to 5,898.50.

For the week ASX 200 increased 1.03% and for the month climbed 7.1%.

In commodities trading, gold unchanged at US$1 to US$1,209 an ounce and light crude oil declined $2.82 to US$48.17 a barrel.

Brent crude jumped US$1.17 to close at US$61.22 a barrel.

Australian Stock Movers

Cabcharge Australia Limited jumped 2.8% to $5.11 after the bus and coach service provider said revenues in the first-half ending in December slipped 2.1% to $100.43 million form $102.6 million a year ago period.

Net profit in the period plunged 13.3% to $31.20 million compared to $36 million and diluted earnings per share dropped to 25.9 cents from 29.9 cents in the same period a year ago.

Graincorp Ltd dropped 2% to $9.87 after the agriculture product maker forecasted EBITDA for the fiscal 2015 in the range of $240 million to $270 million, 18% decline from fiscal 2014. And, estimated operating profit between $45 million and $60 million compared to $95 million in fiscal 2014.

Norman Holdings Limited increased 1.6% to $4.42 after the diversified retailer reported sales revenues in the first-half ending in December climbed 8% to $839.3 million form $776.9 million a year ago period.

Net profit in the period surged 28.3% to $142.1 million compared to $110.7 million and diluted earnings per share jumped to 13.17 cents from 10.36 cents in the same period a year ago.

Woolworths Limited plunged 9.5% to $30.71 after the supermarket operator reported total revenues in the first-half ending in December jumped 1.9% to $32.54 billion form $31.94 billion a year ago period.

Net profit in the period declined 3.8% to $1.28 billion compared to $1.33 billion and diluted earnings per share slipped to 101.8 cents from 105.6 cents in the same period a year ago.

The retailer lowered its estimate of profit increase to 1.8% from the earlier estimate of an increase between 4% and 7%.