Australia Stocks: Allco, ConnectEast, Equinox, Santos, Woodside

By Shani Raja

July 8 (Bloomberg) -- The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 3.40 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,999.10 at 10:20 a.m. in Sydney, the lowest since July 3. The broader All Ordinaries Index declined 8.40, or 0.2 percent, to 5,083.30, while the futures index expiring in September lost 0.6 percent to 5,002.

Oil companies: Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL AU), Australia's second-largest oil and gas producer, lost 90 cents, or 1.5 percent, to A$59.20, the lowest in more than a month. Santos Ltd. (STO AU) slumped 59 cents, or 3 percent, to A$18.81, the lowest since May 16.

Crude oil fell more than $3 a barrel amid signs economic growth is slowing across Europe because of record commodity prices, which may curtail energy demand. Crude for August delivery fell $3.92, or 2.7 percent, to settle at $141.37 a barrel at 2:49 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Allco Finance Group Ltd. (AFG AU), under pressure from bankers to repay debt, gained 5 cents, or 13 percent, to 39 cents. The company agreed to sell part of its Singaporean real estate business for S$180 million ($132 million).

ConnectEast Group (CEU AU), the company building the Eastlink tollway in Melbourne, advanced 2 cents, or 1.9 percent, to A$1.07, the highest in almost a month, after being rated ``outperform'' in new coverage by analyst Anthony Moulder at Credit Suisse.

Equinox Minerals Ltd. (EQN AU), developing Africa's largest copper mine in Zambia, lost 30 cents, or 6.7 percent, to A$4.20, the lowest since Jan. 22. The company fell the most in two months in Toronto Stock Exchange trading after saying a fire at the site will delay the project's completion.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shani Raja in Sydney at sraja4@bloomberg.net.