Broad Rally in Austalian Extends Weekly Gains

Marcus Jacob
09 Oct, 2015
New York City

Australian market indexes jumped 1.3% and extended weekly surge to 4.4%. The new home loan approvals in August rose less-than-expected 2.9% following the downwardly revised decrease of 0.3%. Macquarie Group completed $400 million stock offering to institutional investors.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney, Australia – Australian market indexes jumped 1.3% and extended weekly surge to 4.4%. The new home loan approvals in August rose less-than-expected 2.9% following the downwardly revised decrease of 0.3%. Macquarie Group completed $400 million stock offering to institutional investors.[/R]

Australian market indexes jumped higher in a broad rally that lifted stocks in energy, financial services and real estate sector.

The new home loan approvals rose but increased at a slower than expected pace in August, according to the latest government data.

The seasonally adjusted home loans approved in August jumped 2.9% to 54,546 following the downwardly revised 0.3% decrease in July, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.

The seasonally adjusted value of loans in the month soared 6.1% to $20.02 billion from the downwardly revised 1.7% increase in the previous month.

Investment loans dropped 0.4% to $13.68 billion after a downwardly revised 0.3% fall in July.

Australian dollar closed at 72.84 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover rose to 814 billion shares worth $5.3 billion.

At close, the ASX 200 Index jumped 69.30 or 1.3% to 5,279.70 and the broader All Ordinaries Index gained 67.80 to 5,309.20.

For the week, ASX 200 soared 4.4%.

In commodities trading, gold added US$4 to US$1,148 an ounce and Brent crude future for immediate month delivery increased 67 cents to US$53.72 a barrel.

Australian Stock Movers

Macquarie Group Limited jumped 3.9% to $80.94 after the investment bank completed $400 million or 5 million new shares at a price of $80 per share to institutional investors.

The company lifted dividend forecast for the year to about 57.7 cents per share.

PBD Developments Ltd was halted at 0.01 cents after the property developer secured a second loan agreement worth about $11 million from AP Finance.

The funds will be used to reduce the debt.

Villa World Ltd increased 1.5% to $2.07 after the residential land developer sold 269 premium residential plots in the first-quarter worth about $106.7 million and the company estimated to sell between 1,000 plots to 1,200 plots in fiscal 2016.

Volkswagen Australia, in a regulatory filing admitted that it found existence of emissions-cheating software in Australian diesel vehicles and will recall approx 99,678 vehicles.

In addition, its luxury unit Audi Australia also made a similar declaration.