Weekly Loss of 4.1% in Sydney, Energy Resources Plunges 48%

Marcus Jacob
12 Jun, 2015
New York City

Australian market indexes extended losses and fell 4.1% in the week. Aussie dollar edged higher and crude oil and gold advanced in local trading. Rio Tinto backed uranium miner Energy Resources plunged 48% after abandoning its expansion plans.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney – Australian market indexes extended losses and fell 4.1% in the week. Aussie dollar edged higher and crude oil and gold advanced in local trading. Rio Tinto backed uranium miner Energy Resources plunged 48% after abandoning its expansion plans.[/R]

ASX 200 index in Sydney opened higher but failed to advance and in the final hour of trading closed down. Banks were in focus after total lending commitments increased in April and home prices gained 2.4% in March quarter.

The seasonally adjusted housing finance for owner in April climbed 3.1% to $19.22 billion from $18.65 billion in March, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported.

The seasonally adjusted series for the value of total personal finance commitments rose 3.5% to $9.09 billion compared to $8.79 billion in the previous month.

Australian dollar closed at 77.26 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover slid to 653 billion shares worth $4.4 billion.

At close, the ASX 200 Index fell 11.40 or 0.2% to 5,545.30 and the broader All Ordinaries Index slid 10.50 to 5,552.10. For the week, ASX 200 declined 4.1%.

In commodities trading, gold slipped US$4 to US$1,182 an ounce and Brent crude slid 0.36 cents to close at US$64.75 a barrel.

Australian Stock Movers

Abacus Property Group climbed 3.2% to $2.95 after the property developer and Goldman Sachs have jointly paid $115 million to acquire 201 Pacific Highway, St Leonards in Sydney.

Mirvac Group closed unchanged at $1.91 after the industrial and residential property developer agreed to acquire development site in St Leonards, Sydney includes two commercial office buildings from CIMIC Group Limited for about $121 million.

Rio Tinto Limited slipped 0.6% to $57.14 after the mining company announced priced $1.2 billion of 10-year fixed rate debt securities in the U.S.

The notes will pay a coupon of 3.75%, higher than existing interest rate, and mature on June 15, 2025.

The bonds will issued by Rio Tinto Finance (USA) Limited guaranteed by Rio Tinto plc and Rio Tinto Limited.

The miner issued notice of redemption for all of its 2.50% notes due on May 20, 2016 and 2.25% notes due on September 20, 2016 guaranteed by Rio Tinto plc and Rio Tinto Limited, a total of $1.2 billion in aggregate.