Business News
Aussie shares rise over 0.4%
by Andrew Newton Brown
Australian shares closed higher today S&P/ASX 200 0.49 per cent higher.
The S&P/ASX 200 increased 20.6 points, or 0.48 per cent, to 4306.8.
Among the major miners, BHP Billiton increased $0.31, or 0.86 per cent, to 36.54 and Rio Tinto was $0.58, or 0.86 per cent, higher to $68.09.
In financials, ANZ rose $0.13, or 0.59 per cent, to $22.20, CBA was up $0.18, or 0.36 per cent, to $49.70, NAB put on $0.31, or 1.34 per cent, to $23.52 and Westpac gained $0.12, or 0.58 per cent, to $20.78.
In energy, Woodside Petroleum lost $0.22, or 0.58 per cent, to $37.86, Santos was $0.20, or 1.4 per cent, lower to $14.07 and Oil Search dropped $0.04, or 0.57 per cent, to $7.03.
An in retail, Woolworths added $0.15, or 0.6 per cent, to $25.16 and Wesfarmers gained $0.12, or 0.41 per cent, to $29.23.
In earnings, AGL reported statutory net profit of $117 million, down 51.2 per cent compared with a year earlier. Shares fell $0.67, or 4.67 per cent, to $13.67.
Newcrest said it has experienced a production disruption at its Lihir operation “caused by a failure detected in the post autoclave final discharge deaeration tank and continued erratic processing plant restart performance”. It expects March quarter production to be adversely affected by 50,000 to 60,000 ounces. Shares dropped $1.55, or 4.29 per cent, to $34.55.
To Asia, the Nikkei was 40.83 points, or 0.43 per cent, higher to 9636.4 and the Hang Seng was 37.79 points, or 0.18 per cent, higher to 21,418.78.
The Australian dollar was buying 107.41 US cents, 68.2 pence Sterling, 80.31 euro cents and 86.28 Japanese yen.
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Published on: Friday, February 24, 2012
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