Australian Market Indexes Drop 2.2% on Greek Fears

Marcus Jacob
29 Jun, 2015
New York City

ASX 200 index in Sydney declined more than 2% after Greek worries and financial markets braced for more fallout in the euro zone. Australian dollar declined as investors sought safety in yen and the U.S. dollar.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney – ASX 200 index in Sydney declined more than 2% after Greek worries and financial markets braced for more fallout in the euro zone. Australian dollar declined as investors sought safety in yen and the U.S. dollar.[/R]

Australian markets reacted first to the fast developing Greek crisis and declined more than 2%.

Later in the day, market indexes in Japan, Hong Kong, Shanghai and India declined as much as 3% but managed to recover some of the losses.

Over the weekend, Greece imposed capital controls, shut banks and severely constrained liquidity in the financial system after bailout talks with international lenders failed.

Australian dollar closed at 76.59 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover slipped to 852 million shares worth $5.3 billion.

At close, the ASX 200 Index dropped 123.40 or 2.2% to 5,422.50 and the broader All Ordinaries Index slumped 119.50 to 5,416.60.

In commodities trading, gold increased US$10 to US$1,184 an ounce and Brent crude fell $1 to close at US$62.26 a barrel.

IPO

QMS Media Limited soared 9.2% to 71 cents after the advertising company priced its stock at 65 cents.

The stock opened at 68 cents and closed at 71 cents.

Australian Stock Movers

GWA Group Ltd declined 5.1% to $2.23 after the building equipment maker said it will take a restructuring charge between $7 million and $9 million.

Lend Lease Group slipped 1.2% $15.07 after the infrastructure developer launched a $2 billion fund as “Lend Lease One International Towers Sydney Trust” to invest in its Sydney-based upcoming commercial Tower 1 project at Barangaroo.

Tower-1 is expected to be completed in the fiscal year ending June 2017 while towers 2 and 3 will be completed in the next year.

Separately on Friday, the company secured $1.16 billion roads project to upgrade the motorway near Brisbane airport.

Slater & Gordon Limited tumbled 25% to $3.78 after the law firm confirmed Australian Securities and Investments Commission will investigate financial filings by its UK-based Quindell Plc business by auditor Pitcher Partners for more than three years.

Sundance Energy Australia Ltd closed unchanged at 50.5 cents after the onshore oil and natural gas explorer agreed to acquire Colorado project in the U.S. and cooper basin assets worth about $24 million from New Standard Energy Limited.