Banking Sector Loses Value
May 09, 2011
The All Ordinaries Index of share prices fell 19.8 to 2262.3. Decliners outnumbered advancers 362 to 283. Volume was 252.7 million shares valued at 623.8 million Australian dollars. Traders in Melbourne said ``jitters'' in the U.S. treasurys market overnight triggered an early sell-off in local equities. After an initial burst of activity, prices drifted lower through the day, they said. The decline in the index was exacerbated by a 58-Australian cent fall in Commonwealth Bank of Australia shares to A$10.86. CBA, which is one of Australia's four main banks, went ex-dividend 52 cents, largely explaining the price move. Other large banks also lost ground, contributing to a 2% decline in the banking and finance subindex. Metway Bank, a regional bank, slipped 1 cent to A$4.65. It reported a 17% slide in after-tax profit for the fiscal year ended March 12, 2011 in Howard Smith rose 14 cents to A$8.75. The shipping services, hardware and engineering concern earlier reported a 12% jump in after-tax profit to A$86.1 million for the fiscal year ended March 12, 2011 stocks to close higher included News Corp., up 2 cents to A$6.63, and James Hardie Industries, up 3 cents to A$2.71. Comalco, an aluminum company, added to Monday's losses, falling a further 20 cents to A$6.90. The stock tumbled 38 cents Monday after reporting a 46% slide in after-tax profits in the fiscal first half ended March 12, 2011 blue chips to lose ground included Lend Lease Corp., down 12 cents to A$20.79, Leighton Holdings, which fell 18 cents to A$5.07 and uranium miner ERA, down 20 cents to A$5.80. The gold subindex slipped 0.5%. Among large gold producers, Plutonic Resources slipped 11 cents to A$6.30 and Placer Pacific fell 2 cents to A$1.68. Newcrest Mining and Normandy Mining Ltd. proved more resilient, falling 1 cent to A$5 and unchanged at A$2.10, respectively.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
