ANZ Rate Hike, Sydney Stocks Down

123jump.com Staff
25 Oct, 2007
New York City

Stocks in Australian traded lower for a second day led by BHP Billiton and Australia and New Zealand Bank. ASX 200 index declined by 0.2% to close at 6,624.30. ANZ said it is likely to raise mortgage rates despite a warning from the Prime Minister John Howard and his Deputy Mark Vaile not to do so. Zinifex recorded 13% jump in zinc production. Australian dollar gained.

[R]6:00AM New York, 4:00PM Sydney - The Australia index declines 0.2%
as BHP Billiton and Australia and New Zealand Bank fell.][/R]

In Sydney trading ASX 200 Index declined by 0.2% or 10.1 to 6,624.30.

BHP Billiton was 2.3% lower and Australia & New Zealand Bank lost 3.7%. Preliminary stock turnover was 1.9 billion shares worth A$9.05 billion, with 698 stocks down, 546 up and 350 unchanged.

The most active stock by volume was minerals explorer Centralian Minerals, with 72.17 million shares worth A$4.95 million changing hands. Centralian was up one cent at 7.1 cents. BHP Billiton was the most active stock with 13,133 trades followed by ANZ Bank with 9,364 trades. BHP declined 2.3% and topped the list of the highest traded value followed by ANZ Bank, and National Australia Bank.

ANZ Banking Group announced that it has posted a record profit of A$4.18 billion and says that it may increase interest rates even if the central bank may or may not increase rates.

ANZ''s net profit rose 13% to $4.180 billion in the year ended September 30, from $3.688 in the prior corresponding year. The bank indicated that its headline result was impacted by a gain on the sale of its Fleetpartners international leasing business.

Cash net profit was $3.924 billion, up 9.4% while the cash profit before provisions was $6.114 billion, up 11.5%.

Australian banks are expected to increase rates for home lending as many of them rely on securities market for their funds. In two weeks Reserve Bank of Australia is scheduled to discuss rates for the rest of the year.

Prime Minister John Howard told Australia''s banks today that there was
no justification to raise lending rates. His deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile warned the nation''s central bank that another interest rate rise could be the final straw for farmers during his campaign in the drought-stricken electorate of Calare in central-west NSW.

Zinifex Ltd announced that its zinc production was up 13% more in the first quarter because of increased output from its Century mine in Australia.

According to a statement released by the company total output rose to from 135,682 metric tons, last year to 153,985 metric tons during the three months to September 30. Lead production fell to 18,543 tons from 18,913 tons. Its share rose by 1.1%.

The Australian dollar enjoyed a second day of gains largely due to speculation among traders on possibilities of a rise in interest rates in the coming month. The Australian dollar peaked at $0.9028 compared to $0.8990 against the American dollar yesterday.

In other stocks Rio Tinto declined by 0.1%. In the energy sector Woodside Petroleum rose 1.6%. In the gold sector Newcrest Mining rose by 0.1%.

In the banking sector National Australia Bank was up 2.1%, Commonwealth Bank of Australia put on 1.5 %, Babcock & Brown Ltd was up 3%, but Westpac Banking declined by 0.7%.

In the retail sector Woolworths Limited added 0.3%, Coles jumped 0.1%, Harvey Norman was up 1.7%, and David Jones shed 1%.

In the media sector, Publishing and Broadcasting was up 2% while Ten Network slid 2.5% despite expressing confidence in beating its fiscal 2007 earnings this financial year.

Other losers in the media sector included News Corp down 0.9% or 16 cents to $24.04 and Fairfax shed 1.5%.

Among other stocks, transport and logistics group Toll Holdings rose 0.5% after it announced that the outlook for fiscal 2008 was “positive and had a strong platform from which to pursue more acquisitions.”

Tollroad operator Transurban Group gained 1.1% after it named former BHP Billiton executive Chris Lynch as its new chief executive.

Allco Finance Group descended 4.8% as it said it plans to raise billions of dollars to create four new funds by June 2008.

Paper-maker Paperlinx lost 4.9% after it said its results for the first quarter were down compared to last year.