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Proactive Investors Australia

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Australian market reaction subdued: Woodside Petroleum and QBE shine on an otherwise dull day

Monday, January 16, 2012 by Angela Kean
A handful of mining and financial stocks gained today, bucking the trend of the broader Australian market. ASX stocks were pricing in losses from overseas markets after a downgrade in the credit rating of a number of Eurozone countries. A handful of mining and financial stocks gained today, bucking the trend of the broader Australian market. ASX stocks were pricing in losses from overseas markets after a downgrade in the credit rating of a number of Eurozone countries.

Although the broader Australian market fell 1.1% today to finish at 4,208.4 points, market reaction to Standard and Poor’s stripping of Austria and France’s top credit rating was more subdued than expected.

U.S. equity markets lost ground on Friday in anticipation of the cut to several Eurozone countries’ ratings.

The Dow Jones wiped off 0.4%, or 48.96 points, to close at 12,422.06 points on Friday and the Nasdaq dropped 0.5%, or 14.03 points, to 2,710.67.

The materials sector, unsurprisingly, experienced the highest loss of 1.6% to end the day at 11,011.4 points.

Financials followed suit with a 1.2% decrease to 3,953.2 points at close of trade today.

Nickel producer Mirabela Nickel (ASX: MBN) led the top 20 resource stocks by market cap down with a 4.2% drop to A$1.26 while rare earths explorer Lynas Corporation (ASX: LYC) wiped off 3.8% to finish at $1.

Murchison Metals (ASX: MML) fell 3.6% to $5.32, while Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG) moved south 2.7% to $4.62.

The iron ore giant announced a 72% increase in the North Star magnetite deposit of 880 million tonnes, taking the total Resource to 2.12 billion tonnes at 31.6% iron.

Copper and gold producer PanAust (ASX: PNA) shed 2.5% to $3.44 and Atlas Iron (ASX: AGO) dropped 2.3% to $3.02.

Mining heavyweight BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) also lost ground with a 1.7% move down to $35.98, while fellow giant Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) experienced a small loss of 0.5% to $64.89.

Meanwhile, oil and gas major Woodside Petroleum (ASX: WPL) was on the flip side of the losses today with a 0.5% gain to $33.01.

Uranium producer Paladin Energy (ASX: PDN) rose 1% to $1.53. 

Of the four big banks National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB) and ANZ Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) both fell 1.6% to $23.41 and $20.86 respectively, while Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX: WBC) wiped off 1.5% to $20.37 and the Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA) lost 1.1% to $49.51. 

Insurance group QBE (ASX: QBE) bucked the trend to finish up 2.5% at $11.27.

Shopping centre giant Westfield Group (ASX: WDC) also found itself in the green at the closing bell with a 1.2% gain to $8.57.

Macquarie Group (ASX: MQG) wasn’t so lucky, finishing down 2.5% at $22.87.

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