Stocks in Australia Rise 1.1%

123jump.com Staff
09 Jan, 2009
New York City

Stocks in Australia gain 1.1% on a rise on gold price. Santos plans to add more people at its LNG plant in partnership with Malaysia. HFA Holdings led gainers in the index shares with a rise of 37.9% followed by Centro Retail Group rising 20%.

[R]3:00AM New York, 7:00PM Sydney – Stocks in Australia gain 1.1% on a rise on gold price. Santos plans to add more people at its LNG plant in partnership with Malaysia.[/R]

The benchmark index in Australia rose 1.1% buoyed by gold stocks as prices of the precious metal increased $12.80 to $ 854.50 per ounce.

Gains were however limited as investors locked in gains ahead of the announcement of non-farm payrolls by the U.S. Labor Department today. Economists forecast that U.S. non-farm payrolls will drop by 525,000 and unemployment rate will top 7% in December.

In Sydney trading ASX 200 index gained 1.1% or 41.4 to 3,735.70, rising 0.6% for the week.

Of the ASX 200 index stocks, 103 rose, 76 declined, and 21 were unchanged. HFA Holdings led gainers in the index shares with a rise of 37.9% followed by Centro Retail Group rising 20%.

Santos to Hire 120 Workers in 2009

Santos reported today that the company will hire 120 workers this year for a liquefied natural gas project in Queensalnd. The project will be built jointly with Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd at Gladstone.

Santos said the final investment decision on the project will be made during the first half of 2010 and production is expected to start in 2014.

“For Gladstone LNG alone, we’ve grown from just eight employees in January 2008 to 220 today, with plans for a further 120 new employees on the project in 2009. By the end of next year, we’d expect to have close to 900 Santos and Gladstone LNG employees throughout Queensland, 600 of them based in Brisbane,” said the company in a statement.

ANZ Raises A$2.6 billion

Bloomberg News reported today that Australia & New Zealand Banking Group borrowed A$2.6 billion in local currency bonds that were guaranteed by the government.

The bank sold A$1.5 billion five-year notes that were priced 110 basis points above the mid-swap rate and A$1.1 billion five-year floating rate securities at 110 basis points above the Australia bill swap rate.

UBS AG and Citigroup Inc. helped the lender with the sales.

Gainers & Losers

HFA Holdings led gainers in the ASX 200 index shares with a rise of 37.9% followed by increases in Centro Retail Group of 20%, in Lihir Gold of 11.8%, in Abacus Property of 10.6%, and Goodman Fielder of 9.1%.

Lihir Golf gained after gold prices increased $12.80 to $854.5 per ounce.

Valad Property led decliners in the ASX 200 index shares with a fall of 9% followed by losses in Macquarie Countrywide of 8.5%, in Macquarie DDR TR of 7.7%, in Sigma Pharmaceutical of 7%, and Kagara Ltd. of 5.2%.

Energy stocks declined as crude oil prices plummeted 93 cents to $41.7 per barrel.

Other commodity stocks fell. Murchison Metals dropped 4.7%, Beach Petroleum declined 4.4% and Panoramic Resources shed 3.8%.