Iron Ore Outlook Weak, Fortescue Metals Shipment Up 10%

Hiruki Nakamura
23 Jul, 2015
New York City

Australian market indexes declined for the second day after iron ore price fell and a report suggested continued weakness. Fortescue Metals iron ore shipments increased 10% in the June quarter. Newcrest Mining said June quarter gold production rose 10%.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney – Australian market indexes declined for the second day after iron ore price fell and a report suggested continued weakness. Fortescue Metals iron ore shipments increased 10% in the June quarter. Newcrest Mining said June quarter gold production rose 10%.[/R]

Australian market indexes continued to slide for the second day after iron ore prices declined and a report from the World Bank estimated prices to drop as much as 46% in the rest of the year.

Iron ore prices are expected to dip further largely on the sustained increase in production in Australia and in Brazil.

In addition, steel production in China is expected to weaken on the falling demand as infrastructure growth slows. China produces half of all steel produced in the world.

Australian dollar closed at 73.56 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover fell to 660 million shares worth $4.2 billion.

At close, the ASX 200 Index slipped 24.30 or 0.4% to 5,590.30 and the broader All Ordinaries Index decreased 22.20 to 5,581.30.

In commodities trading, gold slid US$4 to US$1,098 an ounce and Brent crude edged up 0.03 cents to close at US$56.16 a barrel.

Australian Stock Movers

Fortescue Metals Group Limited plunged 6% to $1.64 after the iron ore producer said total shipment in the fourth-quarter ending in June climbed 10% to 42.4 million tons from a year ago period and forecasted total shipments for the year to 165.4 million tonnes.

The miner said at the year-end in June, total cash on hand was about US$2.4 billion and the iron ore explorer expects to reduce another US$1.4 billion of annual costs in this fiscal year and an additional US$1.4 billion in the next fiscal year.

Infomedia Limited declined 3.5% to $1.12 after the online engineering parts and service provider said net profit for the year ending in June jumped 7.3% to $13.2 million form $12.3 million in the same period a year ago.

Macquarie Group Ltd rose 0.4% to $84.81 after the financial services provider reported net profit for the fiscal 2016 is expected to exceed $1.6 billion in the previous year.

As of June, group’s banking and financial services business reported an increase of retail deposits to about $38 billion and business lending climbed 10% to $5.7 billion and mortgage portfolio also jumped 10% to $27 billion.

Newcrest Mining Limited jumped 2.7% to $11.84 after the gold miner lifted gold production in first-quarter ending in June 10% to just under 673,542 ounces compared to the March quarter.

The gold producer said an average realised gold price in the June quarter of $1,532 per ounce against all-in sustained costs of $978.

Production of copper in the quarter dropped 8.8% to 22,170 tons from previous quarter.

Newcrest said gold production for the year was 2,422,568 ounces, 1% increase compared to the previous financial year and total copper production in the year climbed 12% to 96,816 tons from a year ago period.