Australian Indexes Drop 2.4% on Weak Commodities

Marcus Jacob
10 Sep, 2015
New York City

Australian market indexes declined more than 2% after regional markets turned volatile and investors worried on the faster economic slowdown in China. Gold and crude oil declined. Atlas Iron reached its production target four months ahead of schedule.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney, Australia – Australian market indexes declined more than 2% after regional markets turned volatile and investors worried on the faster economic slowdown in China. Gold and crude oil declined. Atlas Iron reached its production target four months ahead of schedule.[/R]

Australian market indexes dropped more than 2% after regional markets in Asia turned volatile and commodities lacked direction.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in August dropped to 6.2% or 781,100 from 6.3% in July, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.

Full-time employment increased 11,500 to 8,141,000 and part-time employment rose 5,900 to 3,634,800.

August month jobs increased 17,400 to 11,775,800 following a 37,900 increases in July.

Australian dollar closed at 70.01 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover rose to 1.02 billion shares worth $6.6 billion.

At close, the ASX 200 Index declined 126.10 or 2.4% to 5,095 and the broader All Ordinaries Index slumped 119.90 to 5,117.

In commodities trading, gold plunged US$17 to US$1,107 an ounce and Brent crude future for immediate month delivery slid 32 cents to US$47.26 a barrel.

IPO

Future Generation Global Investment Company soared 13% to 23 cents after the investment company priced its stock at $1.10.

The stock opened at $1.07 and closed at $1.05.

Australian Stock Movers

Atlas Iron Limited jumped 3.2% to 0.032 cents and the iron ore producer said it reached its target production rate between 14 million and 15 million tons per year in August, four months ahead of schedule.

Total iron ore shipped soared 33% from July to 1.18 million wet metric tons.

Full cash costs in August was $56.52 per wet metric ton from $55 in July.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group slumped 3.1% to $27.65 after the banking and financial services provider today completed its share buyback offer to raise $720 million of Common Equity Tier 1 capital at a price of $26.50 per share.

Sigma Pharmaceutical Limited declined 3.9% to 73 cents after the pharmaceutical distributor reported revenues in the year ending in July soared 11.5% from year ago to $1.67 billion from $1.50 billion.

Net profit in the year tumbled 15.5% to $18.93 million compared to $22.39 million and diluted earnings per share slumped to 1.7 cents from 2.1 cents in the same period a year ago.

Villa World Ltd gained 1.5% to $2.07 after the residential property developer agreed to acquire a site located at Arundel, on the Gold Coast for about $30.66 million.

The transaction is expected to close in June 2016.