WSJ Australian Stocks - Telecom Stocks Hit Market
January 10, 2001
Australian Stocks
Telecom Stocks Hit Market
Dow Jones Newswires
SYDNEY, Australia -- Shares closed slightly lower Wednesday, dragged down by the country's two largest telecom companies and by resource stocks.
The All Ordinaries Index fell 4.9 to 3184.5. Declining issues led advancers 528 to 459. Volume was 483.72 million shares worth 1.4 billion Australian dollars.
C&W Optus, Australia's second-largest telecom, fell 12 Australian cents to A$3.65 following a report in the Australian newspaper that it's facing problems attracting interest in its sale program, citing analyst reports that highlight a lack of price tension for the assets. The paper said sources indicated that NTT DoCoMo has pulled out, leaving its would-be partner, Telecom NZ, in the lurch.
Telstra slipped 8 cents to A$6.65 after Australia's largest phone company and its Asian partner Pacific Century CyberWorks were forced to accept a higher interest rate on a US$1.5 billion loan to fund their joint venture. About 11.4 million ordinary Telstra shares changed hands.
Lucinda Chan, senior dealer at Macquarie Equities, partly attributed the fall in Australian telecoms to losses on Wall Street Tuesday.
Resource stocks fell again as a poor outlook for global growth continues to weigh on enthusiasm toward the sector and its future earnings. Rio Tinto fell 80 cents to A$29.45 and Pasminco fell 2 cents to 65 cents.
Elsewhere, Coles Myer rebounded 13 cents to A$6.78. The stock fell Tuesday after the company confirmed that sales growth had slipped due to disappointing post-Christmas clearances.
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