Market ends week on high note on back of gains in mining and retail
Posted
Australian stocks have ended the week on a high note, buoyed by gains for mining and retail stocks, although investors gave the thumbs down to several company profit announcements.
The All Ordinaries Index gained 0.5 per cent to close at 5,449 and the ASX 200 added 26 points to finish at 5,439.
Investors were not impressed with the details of NAB's latest quarterly profit update.
The bank says growth in mortgages and a reduction in bad debts has helped boost its unaudited quarterly profit to $1.4 billion in the December quarter.
The bank's cash profit rose by 7 per cent to $1.55 billion but its shares dropped 1.8 per cent to close at $34.54.
The other big banks all rose; the Commonwealth Bank fared the best with a gain of 0.8 per cent to $75.18.
Insurance Australia Group improved its half-year profit despite a big rise in costs for natural disaster claims.
The company says profits rose by 40 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier.
Its shares rose by 0.5 per cent to $5.55.
Billabong has narrowed its losses for the half-year, as the company faces a tough turnaround.
The surf-wear retailer made a net loss of $126.3 million in the six months to the end of December, after a more than $500 million loss the year before.
Shares in oil and gas company Santos dropped 4.8 per cent to $13.59 after it reported a small fall in annual profits, down 1 per cent to $516 million.
It says rising sales costs dragged on the result, despite higher volumes and prices.
But it has flagged higher dividends for investors as its major projects begin production.
And another record profit for James Packer's joint venture casino in Macau has boosted the bottom line at his Crown Resorts.
Crown's half-year profit more than doubled to $382.5 million in the six months to the end of December.
But it says weak consumer confidence hit results at its Perth and Melbourne casinos.
Its shares dropped 3.2 per cent to $16.68.
Spot gold had risen to $US1317.55 an ounce just after 5:00pm (AEDT).
West Texas crude closed slightly lower at $US103.18 a barrel, and in Singapore, Tapis crude was fetching $US115.85.
The dollar was slightly lower against the greenback.
At 5:15pm (AEDT) it was buying 90 US cents, 65.6 euro cents, 92.2 Japanese yen and 54 British pence.
Topics: markets, business-economics-and-finance, currency, mining-industry, retail, australia
