Australian Jobless Rate 5.8%; ANZ Offering

Trupti Mehta
09 Jul, 2009
New York City

Stocks in Australia recovered in the afternoon. Unemployment in June increased to 5.8% as employers eliminated 21,400 jobs. ANZ Banking Group raised A$2.2 billion after it raised A$2.5 billion in May.

[R]7:00 PM Sydney – Stocks in Australia recovered in the afternoon. Unemployment in June increased to 5.8% as employers eliminated 21,400 jobs. ANZ Banking Group raised A$2.2 billion after it raised A$2.5 billion in May.[/R]

Australian unemployment increased in June to 5.8% from 5.7% in May as more employers eliminated full time position.

In the month a total of 21,400 people lost their jobs of which 21,900 were full time positions. Employers added 400 part-time jobs according to the latest data from the Australian Statistics Bureau.

ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 4.60 or 0.12% to 3,763.30 and the dollar edged higher to 78.17 U.S. cents.

Gainers & Losers

CSR Limited surged 5.6% to $1.62 after the company indicated first quarter sales are running ahead of last year at annual general meeting.

BHP Billiton increased 0.5% to $32.29, Rio Tinto declined 1.2% to $47.60 and Newcrest Mining Ltd increased 2.1% to $29.60.

Commonwealth Bank decreased 0.4% to $37.10, National Australia Bank decreased 0.1% to $22.07 and Westpac Banking Corporation increased 0.2%.

ANZ Banking Group Ltd completed its offering that raised $2.2 billion. The offering was priced at $14.40 a share is in addition to the $2.5 billion the banking group raised in May through institutional placement.

ANZ declined 2.8% to $15.85.

Leighton Holdings Ltd closed down 0.6% to $21.52 and the company was awarded $500 million contract to build construction village and prepare the site for Gorgon LNG project controlled by Chevron Corp.

ASX 200 Index Movers

Ten Network Holdings Ltd led the decliners in the ASX 200 index of 6.9% followed by losses in GPT Group of 5.6%, in Panoramic Resources Ltd of 5.6%, in Platinum Australia Ltd 5.4% and in FKP Property Group of 4.4%.

BlueScope Steel Ltd led gainers in the ASX 200 index with a rise of 7.0% followed by gains in Boart Longyear Group of 6.6%, in Extract Resources Ltd of 5.6% and CSR Ltd of 5.5%.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 129.69 or 1.38% to 9,291.06, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 69.52 or 0.39% to 17,790.59, CSI 300 index in China closed higher 44.04 or 1.31% to 3,396.30. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 4.60 or 0.12% to 3,763.30. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia closed higher 0.21 or 0.02% to 1,065.68.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 0.13 or 0.01% to close at 1,430.89. SET index in Thailand closed higher 6.12 or 1.06% to 581.99 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 0.73 or 0.03% to 2,083.97. The Sensex index in India decreased 11.69 or 0.08% to 13,757.46.