Australian Markets Extend Weekly Gains

Marcus Jacob
29 May, 2015
New York City

In active trading, ASX 200 index jumped more than 1% and investors factored rates to stay on hold after the policy makers meet on Tuesday next week.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney – In active trading, ASX 200 index jumped more than 1% and investors factored rates to stay on hold after the policy makers meet on Tuesday next week.[/R]

Stocks and market indexes in Sydney jumped and investors estimated rates to stay on hold after the RBA decision next week.

Reserve Bank of Australia said credit growth slowed in April despite the low rates offering another evidence after the quarterly capital expenditure declined in the first-quarter.

Australian dollar closed at 76.69 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover soared to 1.23 billion shares worth $9.2 billion.

At close, the ASX 200 Index jumped 64.10 or 1.1% to 5,777.20 and the broader All Ordinaries Index increased 60.30 to 5,774.90.

For the week, ASX 200 climbed 2.1% but for the month slipped 0.9%.

In commodities trading, gold rose US$1 to US$1,189 an ounce and Brent crude added 0.41 cents to close at US$62.99 a barrel.

Australian Stock Movers

Aveo Group slipped 1% to $2.85 after the retirement community developer lifted its stake to 38.7% in the Retirement Villages Group for $55.8 million

The company owns and operates 29 retirement villages with 3,436 living units and apartments in Melbourne and Sydney.

Downer EDI Limited slid 0.2% to $5.15 after the engineering, construction services provider secured contact worth $180 million to provide networking operations and maintenance services for 300,000 customers.

IPH Ltd jumped 1.9% to $4.90 after the intellectual property services provider agreed to acquire the firm Fisher Adams Kelly Pty Ltd for $26.5 million.

Sirtex Medical Limited was halted at $26.68 ahead of the release of new information about a clinical trial of its liver cancer treatment.

TTG Fintech Ltd climbed 3.5% to 29.5 cents after the information technology services provider said net loss in the first-half ending in March narrowed to $4.54 million from $8.62 million in the same period a year ago.