Second Day Rebound in Australian Despite Global Markets Volatility

Marcus Jacob
26 Aug, 2015
New York City

Australian markets traded higher for the second day as wild market swings persisted around the world. Westfiled Corp, global developer of malls said annual net swings to profit. Worleyparsons, the engineering contractor said annual revenues fell 8%.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney, Australia – Australian markets traded higher for the second day as wild market swings persisted around the world. Westfiled Corp, global developer of malls said annual net swings to profit. Worleyparsons, the engineering contractor said annual revenues fell 8%.[/R]

Australian market indexes closed higher for the second day but Asian market sentiment remained weak after indexes in Shanghai fell 1.3% despite the rate cut and looser bank capital requirement by the central bank.

Major market indexes in New York, Europe and Asia have corrected more than 10% since the recent highs in May.

Stocks in Australia advanced and investors focused on domestic issues after a week of wild swings in world markets and continued uncertainty in China.

Chinese government is struggling to shift the balance in the economy driven more by consumer spending and less reliant on infrastructure development and exports.

However, the latest stock market gyration has burned many small investors in China and investors are running out of options to invest. Real estate prices in large cities in China have been on the decline in the last one year.

The seasonally adjusted total construction activities in the second-quarter jumped 1.6% to $49.81 billion following 2.4% decline in the first-quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said today.

The seasonally adjusted estimate of total building work that includes residential and non-residential construction, done in the quarter declined 2.6% to $23.31 billion and total construction work slumped 3.3% for the year to the month.

Engineering work done in the quarter rose 5.6% on a quarterly basis and dropped 8.8% on a yearly basis.

Australian dollar closed at 71.27 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover jumped to 1.41 billion shares worth $8 billion.

At close, the ASX 200 Index gained 35.50 or 0.7% to 5,172.80 and the broader All Ordinaries Index rose 35.10 to 5,178.90.

In commodities trading, gold declined US$17 to US$1,153 an ounce and Brent crude rose 29 cents to close at US$43.50 a barrel.

IPO

Adherium Limited surged 9.1% to 60 cents after the New Zealand-based Smartinhaler maker priced its stock at 50 cents.

The stock opened at 55 cents and closed at 60 cents.

Australian Stock Movers

Asaleo Care Ltd jumped 6.2% to $1.63 after the tissue paper maker said revenues in the first-half ending in June rose 1% from a year ago to $305.9 million from $303.6 million.

Net in the period swung to profit $32.5 million compared to a loss of $41.7 million and diluted earnings per share swung to 5.4 cents from a diluted loss per share of 10.5 cents in the same period a year ago.

Orora Ltd increased 1.8% to $2.20 after the packaging company stated revenues in the year ending in June surged 28.7% from a year ago to $3.41 billion from $2.65 billion.

Net in the year swung to profit $131.4 million compared to a loss of $72.2 million and diluted earnings per share swung to 10.8 cents from a diluted loss per share of 7.5 cents in the same period a year ago.

Seven Group Holdings Ltd rose 0.2% to $4.67 after the diversified investment company reported revenues in the year ending in June dropped 7.6% from a year ago to $2.78 billion from $3.01 billion.

Net in the year swung to a loss of $359.1 million compared to profit of $262.5 million and diluted loss per share swung to a $1.29 from diluted earnings per share of 77 cents in the same period a year ago.

The company said total expenses excluding depreciation and amortisation of $3.01 billion were 4% higher than the previous year.

Worleyparsons Limited soared 6.3% to $8.13 after the engineering construction company said revenues in the year ending in June declined 8.6% from a year ago to $8.76 billion from $9.58 billion.

Net in the year swung to a loss of $54.9 million compared to profit of $249.1 million and diluted loss per share swung to a 22.2 cents from diluted earnings per share of 100.3 cents in the same period a year ago.

The company write down the value of goodwill of about $198.6 million, amid lower customer spending and fall in oil prices.

Westfield Corporation Ltd fell 0.4% to $9.48 after the shopping centres developer reported revenues in the year ending in June soared 51.1% from a year ago to US$531.5 million from US$351.7 million.

Net in the year swung to profit US$465.9 million compared to a loss of US$746.8 million and diluted earnings per share swung to 22.19 cents from a diluted loss per share of 46.17 cents in the same period a year ago.

In the year, the company plans to invest US$2.5 billion to develop malls in the U.K. and in the U.S.

At present, Westfield is working on US$11 billion of construction projects including Topanga village in Los Angeles and expansion at Valley Fair in Silicon Valley in California.