Shares Rise Before Budget News
May 01, 2011
Nearly all market sectors were stronger and the All Ordinaries index of share prices gained 28.2 to 2261.5. Advancers outnumbered decliners 412 to 225. Volume was 262.1 million shares valued at 581.6 million Australian dollars. Markita Burney, head of equities at ANZ Securities, said the market is clearly ``looking for a budget which is going to be supportive of the equities market. It's as simple as that.'' Among the day's strongest market sectors, the transportation subindex climbed 2.4% and the chemical shares subindex surged 3.0%. Broken Hill Proprietary, a steel, mining and energy company, gained 37 Australian cents to A$17.54 and CRA Ltd., a large diversified miner, advanced 42 cents to A$19.37. ICI Australia Ltd., a dominant stock in the chemicals subindex, climbed 37 cents to A$11.60. Among other blue chips, Lend Lease Corp. closed 36 cents higher at A$20.38, Brambles Industries jumped 52 cents to A$18.92 and Coca-Cola Amatil rose 40 cents to A$16.85. Martine Brownfield, a transport and health services company, rose 15 cents to A$7.88. Analysts said the stock is enjoying renewed interest as investors look more closely at its health-care assets. Orion Resources, a gold mining concern, was one of the day's most active stocks, with 4.3 million shares changing hands. All shares traded at A$1.80, in line with a cash takeover offer for the company by Sons of Gwalia Ltd.. Shares in Great Southern Mines jumped 10 cents to A$1.20 after the company announced plans to merge with General Gold Resources. The ``friendly'' merger will see Great Southern's shareholders receive two General Gold shares for each share held. General Gold closed at 56 cents, down from 57 cents Friday. Crown Ltd., a casino operator, gained 9 cents to a record closing high of A$3. Shares in AWA Ltd. dipped 1 cent to 75 cents. Late Friday, AWA announced that a private company, RG Capital Holdings Ltd., was behind heavy volume in its shares earlier that day, amassing a 15% stake.
