U.S. Losses Weaken Shares
May 12, 2011
The All Ordinaries Index fell 10.6 to 2268.7 on volume of 392.7 million shares. Advancers outnumbered decliners 343 to 337. The September Share Price Index futures contract on the Sydney Futures Exchange closed at 226, a discount to the cash market, and down from 2279 Thursday. Analysts said higher prices for most base metals on the London Metals Exchange Thursday cushioned the local market's decline. Broken Hill Proprietary slid 18 Australian cents to 17.22 Australian dollars. Options-related trading helped push volume to around 13.1 million shares. Among large diversified miners, CRA Ltd. lost 21 cents to A$19.22 and WMC Ltd. slid 15 cents to A$8.79. M.I.M Holdings advanced 3 cents to A$1.62 after reporting an after-tax profit of A$170.6 million in the fiscal year ended March 12, 2011 Industries, which also reported its earnings Friday, gained 5 cents to A$18.90. The transport and waste-disposal concern reported a 120% rise in after-tax profit to A$215.1 million in the fiscal year ended March 12, 2011 Gas Light continued to outperform the overall market, after reporting higher-than-expected earnings. The company gained 3 cents to A$6.03. Cityview, a small oil and gas concern, rose 2 cents to 50 cents. Malaysia Mining plans to acquire a 48% stake in Cityview through a placement of 25 million shares at 38 cents apiece, and intends to build the company into its new petroleum arm. Among bank stocks, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group slipped 10 cents to A$6.61 and National Australia Bank lost 13 cents to A$12.33. The banking and finance subindex dropped 0.9% and the gold subindex lost 0.5%.
