January 05, 2013
That Was The Week That Was … In Australia
By Our Man in Oz
Minews. Good morning Australia. Your market seems to have got off to a strong start in 2013.
Oz. It certainly did. The metals and mining index shot up by an eye-catching 4.2 per cent in the first two days of trading for the year, but lost confidence on Friday to end the week up by a still impressive 2.4 per cent.
That rise by mining stocks was exactly double the 1.2 per cent achieved by the overall market as measured by the all ordinaries index, and substantially stronger than the gold sector where the index could manage only a modest rise of 0.4 per cent.
Minews. What’s behind the confidence?
Oz. Relief is the first factor at work as the U.S. opted to not stifle its economy with higher taxes and reduced spending - the threatened fall off the fiscal cliff. A second factor is evidence that the Chinese economy continues to expand, which is good news for most raw material exports, especially for iron ore, coal and copper.
Minews. Iron ore is interesting, has the recovery in share prices been overdone?
Oz. Quite possibly. The rebound in iron ore stocks has been remarkable since the sector hit the skids in the middle of last year. Much of the recovery, which mimicked a rise in the iron ore price, has come as steel mills rebuilt depleted stockpiles, a process which will eventually end, quite possibly causing the price to retreat again.
Minews. Let’s start the first call of the card for 2013 with iron ore, bearing in mind your warning that a correction might be around the corner.
Oz. Stars of the sector, after a few years in the doghouse, where Gindalbie Metals (GBG) and Grange Resources (GRR), both of which are in the business of producing high-value, but high-cost, magnetite iron ore. Gindalbie added A6 cents (24 per cent) to A31 cents after reporting the first shipment of processed magnetite ore, while Grange went a step further with a rise of A6.5 cents (29 per cent) to A37.5 cents.
Minews. Very interesting moves. Does that mean Australian investors are finally accepting the magnetite story?
Oz. Possibly, though the trick now will be to see how profitable the magnetite projects are after some horrendous cost overruns.
Continuing with the rest of the iron ore sector we saw a widespread uplift in prices. Among the more notable movers were: Fortescue (FMG), up A22 cents to A$4.86, Atlas (AGO), up A5 cents to A$1.81, Mt Gibson (MGX), also up A5 cents to A89.5 cents, Iron Road (IRD), up A2 cents to A35 cents, and BC Iron (BCI), up A5 cents to A$3.70. There were also a few minor falls, including IronClad (IFE), down A2 cents to A29 cents, and Latin (LRS), down A1 cent to A15 cents.
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Source >> www.minesite.com
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That Was The Week That Was … In Australia
By Our Man in Oz
Minews. Good morning Australia. Your market seems to have got off to a strong start in 2013.
Oz. It certainly did. The metals and mining index shot up by an eye-catching 4.2 per cent in the first two days of trading for the year, but lost confidence on Friday to end the week up by a still impressive 2.4 per cent.
That rise by mining stocks was exactly double the 1.2 per cent achieved by the overall market as measured by the all ordinaries index, and substantially stronger than the gold sector where the index could manage only a modest rise of 0.4 per cent.
Minews. What’s behind the confidence?
Oz. Relief is the first factor at work as the U.S. opted to not stifle its economy with higher taxes and reduced spending - the threatened fall off the fiscal cliff. A second factor is evidence that the Chinese economy continues to expand, which is good news for most raw material exports, especially for iron ore, coal and copper.
Minews. Iron ore is interesting, has the recovery in share prices been overdone?
Oz. Quite possibly. The rebound in iron ore stocks has been remarkable since the sector hit the skids in the middle of last year. Much of the recovery, which mimicked a rise in the iron ore price, has come as steel mills rebuilt depleted stockpiles, a process which will eventually end, quite possibly causing the price to retreat again.
Minews. Let’s start the first call of the card for 2013 with iron ore, bearing in mind your warning that a correction might be around the corner.
Oz. Stars of the sector, after a few years in the doghouse, where Gindalbie Metals (GBG) and Grange Resources (GRR), both of which are in the business of producing high-value, but high-cost, magnetite iron ore. Gindalbie added A6 cents (24 per cent) to A31 cents after reporting the first shipment of processed magnetite ore, while Grange went a step further with a rise of A6.5 cents (29 per cent) to A37.5 cents.
Minews. Very interesting moves. Does that mean Australian investors are finally accepting the magnetite story?
Oz. Possibly, though the trick now will be to see how profitable the magnetite projects are after some horrendous cost overruns.
Continuing with the rest of the iron ore sector we saw a widespread uplift in prices. Among the more notable movers were: Fortescue (FMG), up A22 cents to A$4.86, Atlas (AGO), up A5 cents to A$1.81, Mt Gibson (MGX), also up A5 cents to A89.5 cents, Iron Road (IRD), up A2 cents to A35 cents, and BC Iron (BCI), up A5 cents to A$3.70. There were also a few minor falls, including IronClad (IFE), down A2 cents to A29 cents, and Latin (LRS), down A1 cent to A15 cents.
...
Source >> www.minesite.com
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