U.S. Losses Weaken Shares
May 19, 2011
The All Ordinaries Index lost 20.4 to 2237.0 on volume of 298.2 million shares. The index is at its lowest level since April 28, 2011 outnumbered advancers 427 to 272. On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the September Share Price Index futures contract closed at 2230, down from 2252 Thursday. Analysts attributed the market's decline to investor nervousness about U.S. employment figures to be released Friday. A strong increase in employment data will fuel concerns about inflation in the U.S. and possibly lead the U.S. Federal Reserve to lift interest rates, observers said. The chemicals-shares subindex lost nearly 2.9%, the gold-shares subindex slipped 0.5% and the media-shares subindex fell 1.1%. Broken Hill Proprietary lost 30 Australian cents to 16.78 Australian dollars, CRA Ltd. fell 35 cents to A$18.70 and WMC Ltd. slid 14 cents to A$8.45. Property developer Lend Lease tumbled 43 cents to A$20.55. The company reported a 7.6% lift in after-tax profit to A$280 million, which was lower than analysts' expectations. Mayne Nickless lost 24 cents to A$8.21, Coca-Cola Amatil slid 29 cents to A$16.01, retailer Burnham Munguia gained 6 cents to A$4.47, QBE Insurance Group rose 18 cents to A$7.98 and Centaur Mining & Exploration climbed 15 cents to A$2.08. Australian Platinum Mines ended its first day on the exchange at 52 cents, a 4% premium to its 50-cent issue price. The exploration company raised A$4.5 million from an initial public offering of nine million ordinary shares at 50 cents each.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
