Aussie Dollar at 6-Year Low, BHP Targets Iron Ore Cost at $20

Marcus Jacob
11 Mar, 2015
New York City

Stocks in Australia closed down and the Aussie dollar dropped to a six-year low. Seasonally adjusted total home loans in January declined 3.5% to 51,396 and home loan value eased 1%. BHP, the largest iron ore miner said it is on track to cut production cost to $20 a ton.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney – Stocks in Australia closed down and the Aussie dollar dropped to a six-year low. Seasonally adjusted total home loans in January declined 3.5% to 51,396 and home loan value eased 1%. BHP, the largest iron ore miner said it is on track to cut production cost to $20 a ton.[/R]

Australian market indexes slipped after searching for direction in trading session and the Aussie dollar declined on the resurgent U.S. dollar.

Resource stocks traded lower and BHP eased after trading ex-dividend but market sentiment was weak after the U.S. dollar jumped to a new 12-year high against the euro.

Seasonally adjusted total number of home loans in January declined 3.5% to 51,396 and the number of first home buyer declined 14.2% from 14.3% in December, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.

The department said value of loans fell 1% in January to $17.71 billion for owner occupied homes and value of loans including investment housing dropped 0.6% to A$30.24 billion.

Australian dollar closed at 76.06 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover jumped to 918 million shares worth $5.5 billion.

ASX 200 Index slipped 31 or 0.5% to 5,793.20 and broader All Ordinaries Index fell 31 to 5,763.30.

In commodities trading, gold unchanged at US$1,162 an ounce and light crude oil declined US$1.59 to US$50.07 a barrel.

Brent crude rose 26 cents to close at US$56.65 a barrel.

Australian Stock Movers

BHP Billiton Limited declined 2.5% to $30.33 after the diversified mining company reported record iron ore production in the first-half of about 124 million tons. The miner said it is on track to deliver 245 million tons of iron ore in fiscal 2015 and on track to lower cash costs below US$20 per ton.

Jimmy Wilson, president iron ore unit said “for the first-half of current financial year BHP delivered a solid underlying EBIT margin of 49% and a return on assets of 34%.”

Downer EDI Limited slipped 0.9% to $4.30 after the engineering construction group and public transport operator Keolis agreed to acquire its rival Australian Transit Enterprises for $163 million.

The transaction is expected to close in early April.

Telstra Corporation Ltd rose 0.3 to $6.22 after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission reportedly rejected the company''s tender to charge other telecom providers more for accessing its copper phone networks.