Australian stocks closed up 0.14 percent on Monday with News Corp and BHP dominating broadly mixed blue chip trade as investors started to square up their books ahead of the Christmas break. In latest available data, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed up 5.4 points, or 0.14 percent, at 3,993.4, as the index continued to hover just below the key 4,000 point mark.
"I think we're probably in the final throes of liquidity before people start shutting up shop and going away on Christmas leave," said David Halliday, private client adviser at Macquarie Equities.
Resource giant BHP closed up 1 percent at A$15.29 after oil prices jumped and it benefited from North West Shelf gas field Woodside's announcement that arrangements had been finalised for the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) to take a stake in the venture.
Among other resource stocks, Rio Tinto lost 0.6 percent to A$38.75 and Alinta added 5.2 percent to A$7.84 after its upbeat earnings forecasts on Friday.
"There's some underlying confidence in the market yet, maybe not at the level that we've seen at the beginning of this year but I would think you'd see the All Ordinaries trade between 3,700 and 4,200 next year," said Tony Russell, senior equities adviser, at ABN Amro Morgans.
Shares in News Corp, which weighed on the market in early trade, closed down 0.2 percent at A$24.59 after it entered the US S&P 500 index and saw its weighting reduced by 25 percent in the Australian benchmark index.
CBA was the sole "big four" bank to end higher on the day, gaining 0.3 percent to A$31.85, while investment bank Macquarie added 1.1 percent to A$45.45 after it announced a venture with Novera to buy UK renewable energy assets.
Insurer IAG rose 1.9 percent to A$6.30 and Promina gained 0.4 percent to A$5.20 on expectations of better insurance margins and earnings forecasts.
Airlines Qantas and Virgin Blue were knocked by the stronger oil prices, with flagship carrier Qantas losing 0.8 percent to A$3.67 and its discount rival slipping 1.6 percent to A$1.86. Retailers were lower on the day as some investors judged consumer spending could start to slow in 2005, with David Jones closing down 1.3 percent at A$2.27, while Coles slipped 0.7 percent to A$9.87.
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