Australian Indexes Trim Weekly Gains, Santos Revenues Drop 24%

Marcus Jacob
17 Apr, 2015
New York City

Australian market indexes reversed some of the weekly gains on weak commodities prices. Aussie dollar remained firm near 78 U.S. cents. Santos Limited first-quarter revenues declined 24% on 7% fall in production.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney – Australian market indexes reversed some of the weekly gains on weak commodities prices. Aussie dollar remained firm near 78 U.S. cents. Santos Limited first-quarter revenues declined 24% on 7% fall in production.[/R]

Australian market indexes took a breather after prices of metals and iron ore declined and crude oil weakened after a two-week long rally.

Australian dollar closed at 77.97 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover rose to 776 million shares worth $4.9 billion.

At close, the ASX 200 Index declined 69.60 or 1.2% to 5,877.90 and the broader All Ordinaries Index dropped 66.10 to 5,851.50.

For the week, ASX 200 slumped 1.6%.

In commodities trading, gold fell US$4 to US$1,201 an ounce and Brent crude slipped 36 cents to close at US$63.62 a barrel.

Australian Stock Movers

AGL Energy Ltd slid 0.6% to $14.98 after the gas and electricity distributor said it will not acquire any more coal-fired power stations and may close its existing coal-fired power plants by 2050, to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

The utility company serves more than 3.8 million Australian households and businesses.

Macquarie Telecom Group Ltd surged 12.7% to $5.41 after the telecommunications company said Vocus Communications Limited agreed to acquire approximately 14.5% stake in the company for about $15.63 million of swap transaction.

Santos Ltd rose 0.4% to $7.96 after the oil and gas producer reported revenue in the first-quarter ending in March plunged 24% to $825 million form $1.09 billion in the fourth-quarter.

Production in the quarter, declined 7% to 14 million barrels of oil equivalent and sales tumbled 16% to 15.2 mmboe and average oil price for the quarter was $72 per barrel, 22% lower than the previous quarter.

Treasury Wine Estates Ltd fell 0.9% to $5.64 after the wine maker refinanced $300 million in syndicated debt facility maturing in April 2016.

The revised debt facility will be split into two tranches of $150 million with maturity dates in April 2018 and April 2020.