Australian Index Up 12%

123jump.com Staff
31 Dec, 2007
New York City

Australian stocks on the last day of trading closed nearly unchaged. in 2007, ASX 200 gained 12% in local dollar and added 25% in the U.S. dollar on rising mining and metals companies. Banks in Australia fell after the credit market turbulence in the second half of the year. Rio Tinto, BHP, and Fortescue were leading gainers in the ASX 200 Index. Australian dollar crossed 88 cents to one U.S. dollar and solid private sector credit data.

[R]5:00AM New York, 9:00PM Sydney- ASX 200 index rose 12% in local dollar and 25% in the U.S. dollar in 2007.[/R]

ASX 200 index lost 0.1 to close at 6,339.80.

The Preliminary market turnover was 700.152 million shares worth $1.848 billion with 617 stocks higher, 425 lower and 377 unchanged. The top traded stock was Flinders Diamonds with 138.469 million shares changing hands worth $17.386 million.

Newcrest mining was up 2.8% and Lihir added 2.3%.

Allco Finance Group today announced the launch of the first globally diversified transport and infrastructure fund ahead of schedule after receiving a commitment from a large Australian institutional investor to invest A$200 million into the fund to be known as Allco Global Transport and Infrastructure Fund.

Allco GTI will operate as an unlisted, wholesale fund that will invest in aviation, shipping, rail and targeted infrastructure assets that will seek to provide predictable absolute returns. Allco is targeting total capital commitments between $350 and $450 million from few investors.

The company said the Allco GTI team will be led by Tze Masters, as Chief Investment Officer. The Fund''s seed assets include a share of five European wind farms, direct investments in three aircraft, and a share in a portfolio of 27 ships. These assets were originally on Allco''s balance sheet.

Allco''s experience in transportation origination, financing and asset management has been built over almost 30 years. In transportation financing, Allco has financed over $60 billion of deals in transport and infrastructure assets since the company was founded in 1979.

Fortescue Metals Group Ltd''s stock lost 11% today following remarks that recent gain in the stock appear to be speculative.

Fortescue stock gained more than fivefold this year leading all stocks in the ASX 200 Index after shareholders approved a 10-for-one share split this month, which was aimed at improving liquidity and affordability.

The company is building a $2.7 billion port, iron ore mine, and rail project in Western Australia with the first shipment in May 2008.

BHP Billiton Ltd., Woodside Petroleum Ltd., and Santos Ltd scaled down oil production by half after the first tropical cyclone of the season hit the northwest coast.

BHP''s spokeswoman, Emma Meade told reporters by phone today that the mining giant had stopped oil and natural gas output at its Stybarrow and Griffin fields yesterday and was reported by Bloomberg.

Woodside''s spokeswoman Kirsten Stoney said they had stopped production at Enfield and Cossack-Pioneer and Santos''s spokesman Matthew Doman said they had shut down Mutineer Exeter field on December 29.

The officials said the shut down equates to more than 260,000 barrels a day of crude and condensate output are mostly set to end today or tomorrow.

A forecaster with the Bureau of Meteorology in Perth said the category two storm on the five-tier ranking system with winds as strong as 120 kilometers an hour is weakening and will be downgraded later today. Most cyclones are prone in the northwest Australian coastline between Broome and Exmouth. Averages of five cyclones strike the region between November and April each year.

Santos gained 0.5%, BHP fell 0.5% and Woodside was down 0.1%.

Australian leading mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton will be crowned the top performers of the year on the London Stock Exchange when trading closes for 2007.

Rio Tinto and BHP are two leading gainers in the FTSE 100 share index. Rio closed up a whopping 90% and BHP gained 69% for the year.

The dollar closed stronger on the last trading day of 2007, breaking through $0.8800 on strong private sector credit data and weak US new home sales in November. At the close the dollar was at $0.8818 up from Friday''s close of $0.8726.

Of the ASX 200 index shares, Allco Finance led the gainers with a rise of 7.6% followed by increases in Lynas Corp Limited of 6%, in Bunnings Warehouse of 4.9%, in Sino Gold Mining of 4.7%, and in Babcock & Brown of 4.6%.

Of the ASX 200 index stocks Fortescue Metals led the decliners with a fall of 11.5% followed by losses in Centro Retail Group of 6.4%, in Australand Properties of 4.1%, in James Hardie of 3.3%, and in PMP Limited of 4.3%.

In other stocks the banking sector was mixed, with Westpac gaining 0.1%, Commonwealth Bank of Australia up 0.4% and Australia and New Zealand shed 0.2%. The retailers were mixed, with David Jones adding 0.5%, Harvey Norman up 1.3% and Wesfarmers shed 0.6%.

The media sector was also mixed, with Fairfax was up 1.1%, News Corp lost 0.8% and Consolidated Media Holdings declined 1.8%.

Shares in Lincoln Minerals fell 5.26% on news it had concluded a joint venture agreement with India''s Mineral Enterprises.