Australian Indexes Fall 1% on the Weight of Greek Worries

Marcus Jacob
25 Jun, 2015
New York City

Australian indexes traded down nearly 1% and energy and resource sector stocks led decliners. Gold and crude oil prices closed nearly unchanged. Collins Foods, the operator of fast food franchises, reported 30% increase in revenues but swung to a loss in the year.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney – Australian indexes traded down nearly 1% and energy and resource sector stocks led decliners. Gold and crude oil prices closed nearly unchanged. Collins Foods, the operator of fast food franchises, reported 30% increase in revenues but swung to a loss in the year.[/R]

Market indexes in Australia traded lower after Greek tremors travelled through Asia and the region.

Local trading sentiment was weak at the market opening after Greece and international leaders appeared nowhere near a compromise after almost a year of negotiations with the next debt payment due later in few weeks.

Australian dollar closed at 77.43 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover slid to 688 million shares worth $4.6 billion.

At close, the ASX 200 Index decreased 54.10 or 0.9% to 5,632.70 and the broader All Ordinaries Index fell 52.80 to 5,619.90.

In commodities trading, gold closed flat at US$1,178 an ounce and Brent crude edged up 0.07 cents to close at US$63.56 a barrel.

Australian Stock Movers

3D Medical Ltd closed unchanged at 12 cents after the medical products maker signed a manufacturing agreement with a “leading health industry specialist” in prosthetic treatment of jaw disorders to produce more prosthetic jaws for another 25 in the next 12 months.

The company created a 3D-printed titanium jaw for a Melbourne-based man, the first surgery of its kind in Australia.

Bradken Limited was halted at $1.72 and the engineering company signed a preliminary agreement with the private equity group CHAMP to refinance its $433.8 million debt.

In recent period, Bradken rejected two takeover offers from Pacific Equity Partners and Koch Industries for $2.50 a share.

MMA Offshore Limited jumped 6.3% to 59 cents after the marine services provider secured a contract from Chevron Australia Pty Ltd. worth up to $100 million with an option for an additional year to provide supplies to base facilities and services for Chevron’s operations in North West Australia.

Slater & Gordon Limited tumbled 17.5% to $5.06 after the consumer law firm faces the U.K. investigation for the accounting practices of Quindell covering about $1.3 billion of receipts.

The company agreed to acquire Quindell in March for about £637 million.

Slater & Gordon said the company has no liabilities arising from the investigation because it only acquired a unit and not a parent company.