Australian Indexes Trim Weekly Losses, Rio Guides Higher Iron Ore Production

Marcus Jacob
16 Oct, 2015
New York City

Australian market indexes closed higher but for the week declined and the Aussie dollar closed slightly lower from its one-week high. Rio Tinto said iron ore production increased in the third-quarter but copper production is expected to fall short of its previous estimate.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney, Australia – Australian market indexes closed higher but for the week declined and the Aussie dollar closed slightly lower from its one-week high. Rio Tinto said iron ore production increased in the third-quarter but copper production is expected to fall short of its previous estimate.[/R]

Australian market indexes traded higher and but closed down for the week.

The second-largest mining company, Rio Tinto announced production increase in the third quarter across most areas. Iron ore shipment increased 17% from a year ago but copper production for the year is expected to fall short of its estimate.

Australian dollar closed at 72.82 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover added to 759 billion shares worth $4.88 billion.

At close, the ASX 200 Index increased 38.20 or 0.7% to 5,268.20 and the broader All Ordinaries Index rose 38.10 to 5,303.70.

For the week, ASX 200 fell 0.2%.

In commodities trading, gold slid US$7 to US$1,178 an ounce and Brent crude future for immediate month delivery rose 49 cents to US$50.22 a barrel.

IPO

Baby Bunting Group Limited closed unchanged at $2 after the property developer priced its stock at $2.

The stock opened at $2.03 and closed at $2.

Australian Stock Movers

Myer Holdings Ltd jumped 3.1% to 99 cents after the department store operator said it plans to employ 3,000 additional staff during the Christmas holiday period and plans to invest in staff training.

Rio Tinto Limited slipped 1% to $53.69 after the mining company confirmed iron ore shipment in third-quarter ending in September of about 91.3 million tons and guided the ore shipment for the year of about 340 million tons.

The company said production in the quarter surged to 86.1 million tons, 17% higher than the same period a year ago.

Copper production is expected to fall to 510,000 tons, lower than its earlier guidance of as much as 535,000 tons and refined copper production is estimated around 215,000 tons, lower than the previous guidance of up to 220,000 tons.

Rio Tinto plans to produce 18 million carats of diamonds in this year, lower than the earlier forecast of 20 million carats.

The miner completed its Pilbara expansion during the first-half of next year.

Santos Ltd soared 3.8% to $5.54 after the oil and gas producer made its first shipment of liquefied natural gas from the $18.5 billion GLNG project in Queensland.