Day Three of Australian Stock Sell-off, Westpac to Raise $3.5 B

Marcus Jacob
14 Oct, 2015
New York City

Australian market indexes declined for the third day in a row. Banks and energy stocks led the decliners. Banks were under pressure after Westpac Banking launched a stock offering to raise $3.5 billion.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney, Australia – Australian market indexes declined for the third day in a row. Banks and energy stocks led the decliners. Banks were under pressure after Westpac Banking launched a stock offering to raise $3.5 billion.[/R]

Australian market indexes declined for the third day in a row and energy and banking stocks led the decliners.

Banks were lower after Westpac said it is looking to raise additional capital of $3.5 billion.

Australian dollar closed at 72.19 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover slid to 743 billion shares worth $4.6 billion.

At close, the ASX 200 Index fell 5.60 to 5,197.30 and the broader All Ordinaries Index slid 4.20 to 5,230.40.

In commodities trading, gold jumped US$19 to US$1,174 an ounce and Brent crude future for immediate month delivery slid 17 cents to US$49.07 a barrel.

IPO

Baby Bunting Group Limited surged 30.7% to $1.83 after the baby products retailer priced its stock at $1.40.

The stock opened at $1.96 and closed at $1.83.

The company forecasted revenues for the year of about $218.6 million and pre-tax profit of $16.3 million from a year ago period.

Australian Stock Movers

Australian Leisure and Entertainment Property Management Ltd fell 0.8% to $3.61 after the property developer received an unsolicited non-binding proposal from Caledonia (Private) Investments Pty Limited for about $3.95 per share valued at $773 million or US$560 million.

Treasury Wine Estates Ltd was halted at $6.57 after the wine maker agreed to acquire most of U.S. and U.K.-based wine businesses from its rival Diageo Plc for about $600 million or US$552 million in cash to double the revenues from luxury wines in the U.S.

Westpac Banking Corporation was halted at $33.30 after the bank launched a fully underwritten accelerated renounceable entitlement offer to raise $3.5 billion.

Separately, the bank will raise the interest rates on its variable home loan and residential investment property loan rates by 20 basis points in response to increased capital requirements.