Karoon Gas Plunges; Australian Stocks Fall

123jump.com Staff
24 Sep, 2009
New York City

Karoon Gas Australia Ltd led the decliners in the S&P ASX 200 index with a loss of 18.7%. Brickworks Ltd full-year sale surges. David Jones Ltd full-year net profit rises. Karoon gas plunges as much as 22% after initial test results of the second well at Browse Basin field were negative.

[R]8:00 AM Sydney, Australia – Karoon Gas Australia Ltd led the decliners in the S&P ASX 200 index with a loss of 18.7%. Brickworks Ltd full-year sale surges. David Jones Ltd full-year net profit rises.[/R]

Australian markets increasingly linked to the Chinese economy focused on the activities in the commodities trading. Copper and zinc prices declined in the international markets but rising Australian dollar is expected to lower corporate profits.

ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 32.90 or 0.69% to 4,701.20, of the stocks in the index, 42 increased, 136 declined and 22 were unchanged.

The Australian dollar edged lower 0.5% to 86.48 U.S. cents.

ASX Movers

Ausenco Limited the provision of professional engineering design rose 6.8% to A$5.95.

Karoon Gas Australia Ltd led the decliners in the S&P ASX 200 index with a loss of 18.7% followed by losses in Cabcharge Australia Limited of 5.7%, in Mirvac Group of 5.4%, in Emeco Holdings Limited 4.5% and in Alesco Corporation Ltd of 4.1%.

Ausenco Limited led gainers in the S&P ASX 200 index with a rise of 6.8% followed by gains in Macquarie Office Trust 3.4%, in ING Office Fund of 3.3% and in Nufarm Limited of 3.2%.

Other Movers

In trading today, 3.12 billion shares changed hands worth A$5.17 billion with 482 stocks gaining, 681 falling and 291 were unchanged.

Brickworks Limited surged 12.8% to A$15.75 after the brick and tile producer said full-year revenues rose 7% to A$593.5 million from A$553.7 million a year ago. Net profit for the full-year rose 201% to A$305.2 million compared to net profit of A$101.5 million a year ago.

BHP Billiton plc decreased 1.6% to A$37.72, Rio Tinto decreased 1.5% to A$60.92 and Woodside Petroleum decreased more than 2% to A$51.71.

David Jones Limited fell 3.8% to A$5.44 after the department store said full-year revenues fell 5.2% to A$1.99 billion from A$2.10 billion a year ago. Net profit for the full-year rose 6.2% to A$156.5 million or 30.3 cents per diluted share compared to net profit of A$147.3 million or 30.0 per share a year ago.

Karoon Gas Australia Ltd plunged 18.7% to A$8.25 after the company indicated that the results of its recently drilled well off the northwest coast of Australia were not encouraging.

The well Kontiki-1 well showed sands that could not confirm the hydrocarbon potential of the well. Recently the company had abandoned Poseidon-1 well after it could not rectify the mechanical failure.

Karoon and its partner ConocoPhillips are looking for natural gas in Browse Basin which is one of the largest offshore natural gas fields in Australia. Karoon surged more than 100% in two months after the company said in July that initial results of wells in the region are similar to the fields that are explored by Woodside Petroleum Ltd.

ConocoPhillips is the majority interest holders in the fields.

Woodside Petroleum Ltd the oil and gas producer declined 2.6% to A$51.71.

Retailers closed lower. Woolworths decreased 6 cents to A$29.20 and Wesfarmers declined 0.8% to A$26.46.

Suncorp-Metway increased 0.7% to A$8.30 after it agreed to sell its real estate business Hooker Corp to the grandson of the company founder.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 173.68 or 1.67% to 10,544.22, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 544.79 or 2.52% to 21,050.73 and CSI 300 index in China higher 20.86 or 0.68% to 3,080.93. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 32.90 or 0.69% to 4,701.20. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was lower 1.01 or 0.08% to 1218.06.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 17.59 or 1.03% to close at 1,693.88. SET index in Thailand closed lower 1.98 or 0.27% to 728.54. JSE Index in Indonesia increased 11.92 or 0.48% to 2,468.90.The Sensex index in India increased 61.93 or 0.37% to 16,781.43.