Australian Indexes Trim Weekly Losses, News Corp Falls

Marcus Jacob
06 Nov, 2015
New York City

Australian market indexes closed higher and trimmed weekly losses to 0.6%. News Corp declined after reporting weaker than expected quarterly sales. BHP Billiton trimmed losses after reporting an accident at a mine in Brazil.

[R]5:30 PM Sydney, Australia – Australian market indexes closed higher and trimmed weekly losses to 0.6%. News Corp declined after reporting weaker than expected quarterly sales. BHP Billiton trimmed losses after reporting an accident at a mine in Brazil.[/R]

Stocks in Sydney opened lower but managed to reverse direction in late afternoon on technical reasons and the BHP led the resource stocks higher after dropping sharply at the opening.

The construction sector continued to expand as the construction index in October jumped to 52.1 from 51.9 in September, the Australian Industry Group said.

Australian dollar ease to 71.42 U.S. cents and in stock trading turnover increased to 753 million shares worth $5.2 billion.

At close, the ASX 200 Index increased 22 or 0.4% to 5,215 and the broader All Ordinaries Index gained 21.80 to 5,269.70.

For the week, ASX 200 decreased 0.6%.

In commodities trading, gold fell US$3 to US$1,108 an ounce and Brent crude future for immediate month delivery gained 30 cents to US$48.28 a barrel.

Australian Stock Movers

Asciano Ltd surged 8.1% to $8.95 after the Canada-based Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP agreed to acquire 14.9% stake in port terminal logistics company and may take additional stake of 4.3%.

BHP Billiton Plc declined 2.5% to $22.70 after the U.K. and Australia based resource company reported mudslide at the dam of Samarco Mineração S.A’s iron ore operation in Minas Gerais, Brazil that may have killed people.

News Corp slipped 1.8% to $21.33 after the media company reported total revenues in the first-quarter ending in September dropped 4.7% from a year ago to $2.01 billion.

Net profit in the quarter surged 169.2% to $175 million compared to $65 million and diluted earnings per share jumped to 30 cents from 11 cents in the same period a year ago.

REA Group Limited increased 1.2% to $49.15 after the online property services provider said revenues in the first-quarter ending in September surged 21% from a year ago to $146 million and operating profit jumped 30% to $82 million from $63 million in the same period a year ago.

As of September 30, the company said free cash flow soared more than double to $49 million compared to $24 million in the same period a year ago.