Australian Stocks Look Up; Wesfarmers Sales Up

123jump.com Staff
22 Oct, 2009
New York City

Stocks in Australia are expected to open higher after a rally in New York. Commodities edged lower after fears of rising inflationary pressures in China. Newcrest Mining reported 22% decline in production in the latest quarter. Wesfarmers same store sales increased 6.1% in the fiscal first quarter.

[R]7:00 AM Sydney, Australia – Stocks in Australia are expected to open higher after a rally in New York. Commodities edged lower after fears of rising inflationary pressures in China. Newcrest Mining reported 22% decline in production in the latest quarter. Wesfarmers same store sales increased 6.1% in the fiscal first quarter.[/R]

Stocks in Sydney are expected to open higher after gains in New York trading. Commodities closed lower in New York. Crude oil, gold and copper traded lower.

Commodities were under pressure in New York and London after China reported 8.9% rise in gross domestic product. China statistics bureau also said that inflationary pressures are rising.

The ASX 200 index decreased 25.80 or 0.53% to 4,812.80. Of the stocks in the index, 52 increased, 128 declined and 20 were unchanged.

The Australian dollar decreased 0.23% to 92.66 U.S. cents in trading yesterday.

Sydney Movers

Alesco Corporation Ltd decreased 5.1% to A$5.55.

Downer EDI Limited fell 1.6% to A$8.82 after the engineering firm completed the medium term note offering of A$150 million ($139 million) and priced a four-year bond issue at 375 basis points over swap. The company released the information in a regulatory filing.

DUET Group increased 6.0% to A$1.76.

Lend Lease decreased 3.8% to A$10.45 and Stockland declined 2% to A$4.01.

Newcrest Mining Limited decreased 1.7% to A$35.48 after the largest gold miner reported 22% decline in gold production in the first quarter.

Panoramic Resources Limited rose 7.3% to A$2.78.

Petsec Energy Limited plunged 11.4% to A$0.31 after the oil and gas explorer said it will continue to pursue acquisition opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico after gas output from the US region fell in the third quarter. The fields controlled by the company are running out of reserves.

Steelmakers closed lower after China reported inflation forces are gathering. Onesteel decreased 3% to A$3.27 and Bluescope decreased 2% to A$3.32.

Qantas Airways Limited declined 3.0% to A$2.90 after the airline has no plans to provide capital assistance to Japan Airlines Corp. said Alan Joyce, chief executive officer.

Santos Limited fell 0.5% to A$15.66 after the oil and gas producer said confirms full year output but says revenue lower on softer oil prices. Third quarter revenues declined 24% to A$557 million as the average realized prices of oil declined 44% to A$82.52 and natural gas fell18% to A$4.03. Third quarter oil and gas production increased 5% to 13.9 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Sundance Resources Limited fell 5.7% to A$0.16.

Wesfarmers Ltd decreased 0.2% to A$26.44. After the close the retailer reported fiscal first quarter food and liquor sales increased 7.3% and increased 6.1% on a comparable store basis.

Comparable same store sales increased 1.8% at the discount store chain Target and 5.8% at Woolworths Ltd. Home improvement retailer the Bunning sales increased 15%.

ASX Movers

Sundance Resources Limited led the decliners in the S&P ASX 200 index with a loss of 5.7% followed by losses in Alesco Corporation Ltd of 5.1%, in Gunns Limited of 4.3%, in FKP Property Group 3.8% and in Corporate Express Australia Limited 3.8%.

Panoramic Resources Limited led gainers in the S&P ASX 200 index with a rise of 7.3% followed by gains in DUET Group 6.0%, in Boart Longyear Limited of 3.2% and in Australian Worldwide Exploration Limited of 3.2%.