Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon 1/20/14

An office worker walks past the board of the Australian Securities Exchange building displaying its logo in central Sydney April 5, 2013. Reuters

EVENING REPORT
(5pm AEDT)

The Australian share market finished in the red today, but importantly closed well off earlier lows following better than expected Chinese economic growth figures. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) hit a low of 5237.7 points during trade before closing down just 8.8 points to 5307.6.

Official Chinese data out today showed the Chinese economy grew at a 7.7 per cent annual pace in the December quarter, mildly lower from 7.8 per cent growth recorded in the September quarter.

In local company news, uranium miner Paladin Energy (PDN) was in focus although it pared earlier gains in afternoon trade. PDN, which rallied strongly on Friday, announced it will sell a 25 per cent stake in its Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia to a Chinese state corporation for US$190 million. If approved, PDN will be able to improve its balance sheet following a $40 million loss in the September quarter. PDN shares rose 0.9 per cent today to 56.5 cents.

21st Century Fox (FOX), which plans to delist from the Australian stock exchange, fell 1.8 per cent to $35.30. Shareholders will vote on the planned delisting at a special meeting in either March or April.

A firmer gold price kept one of 2013's biggest losers Newcrest Mining (NCM) firmer. NCM added 5.6 per cent to $9.70 today and is up 24.4 per cent so far in January.

According to the Australian Institute of Petroleum, the national average Australian price of unleaded petrol rose by 1.0 cent per litre to 155.1 cents a litre in the week to January 19. CommSec expects fuel prices to fall by 2 cents a litre over the next fortnight.

On the market overall, a total of 1.6 billion shares changed hands, worth $3.5 billion. 441 were up, 479 were down and 362 were unchanged.

At 5pm AEDT the SFE 200 Futures Index was at 5256, down 11 points.

Wall Street is closed tonight for Martin Luther King Junior Day.

[Kick off your trading day with our newsletter]