Aussie Dollar Down; Westside, Dawson Seamgas

Darlington Musarurwa
30 Dec, 2009
New York City

Australian stocks edged lower tracking lower commodities prices in a subdued trading. The Australian dollar declined 0.5% to 89.06 U.S. cents. The coal seam gas explorer Westside agreed to buy Anglo American stake in Dawson Seamgas. New Zealand lending rises 2.8% in November.

[R]3:00 AM New York, 7:00 PM Sydney – Australian stocks edged lower tracking lower commodities prices in a subdued trading. The Australian dollar declined 0.5% to 89.06 U.S. cents. The coal seam gas explorer Westside agreed to buy Anglo American stake in Dawson Seamgas. New Zealand lending rises 2.8% in November.[/R]

The benchmark stock index fell 0.2% as stocks drifted in Sydney trading as commodity and financial stocks tumbled.

Crude oil prices fell 0.01% to $78.8 per barrel, and gold prices dropped 0.9% to $1,098 per ounce.

In Sydney trading ASX 200 Index decreased 0.2% or 11.8 to 4,833.30.

Of the ASX 200 index stocks, 79 rose, 108 dropped, and 13 were unchanged. MacMahon Holdings led advancers in the index shares with a rise of 6.8% followed by Gindalbie Metals jumping 4.6%.

The Australian dollar declined 0.5% to 89.06 U.S. cents.

Westside buys Anglo American''s stake in Dawson Seamgas

The Australian reported today that coal seam gas explorer Westside has entered into an agreement to acquire Anglo American stake in Dawson Seamgas coal seam gas assets and may also purchase Mitsui & Co.’s share in the assets subject to the consideration of pre-emptive rights.

Westside also agreed to buy acreage near Moura in Queensland for $80 million.

Westside may take up to 100% stake in the producing Dawson Seamgas CSG fields and up to 50% in two adjoining permits.

In addition, it will also acquire 212 petajoules of proven and probable gas reserves and 514 petajoules of proven, probable and possible reserves.

The company intends to issue shares of existing shareholders to fund the acquisition.

NZ Lending Rises 2.8% in November

Reserve Bank of New Zealand has reported that lending rose 2.8% in November, gaining 0.2% from the 0.3% gain recorded a month earlier.

Mortgage lending advanced 3.4% and consumer loans dropped 5%.

Benchmark interest rates are still at a record low 2.5% and monetary authorities intend to maintain accommodative monetary policy stance until economic conditions improve.

ASX Movers

Energy World Corporation Limited led the decliners in the S&P ASX 200 index with a loss of 5.9% followed by losses in Spotless Group Limited of 4.0%, in Kingsgate Consolidated Limited of 3.4%, in Macquarie CountryWide Trust 3.2% and in St Barbara Limited 3.2%.

Macmahon Holdings Limited led gainers in the S&P ASX 200 index with a rise of 6.8% followed by gains in Gindalbie Metals Ltd 4.5%, in Linc Energy Ltd of 3.9% and in Sundance Resources Limited of 3.4%.

Other Movers

St Barbara Limited the gold miner decreased 3.2% to A$0.30.

Kagara Ltd climbed 0.9% to A$1.04 after the metals producer agreed to sell its base metals deposit in North Queensland for A$4.5 million.

Lihir Gold Limited decreased 0.6% to A$3.25 and Macarthur Coal Limited the exporter of pulverized coal rose 2.2% to A$10.94. Newcrest Mining Limited the gold producer declined 0.9% to A$34.96.

Nufarm Limited the agricultural chemicals increased 0.09% to A$10.87 after it agreed to a deal with Japan based Sumitomo Chemical Co.