Australia Stocks: Babcock Power, Mincor, Paperlinx, Woodside

By Shani Raja

July 18 (Bloomberg) -- The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 34.30 points, or 0.7 percent, to 4,866.70 at 12:05 p.m. in Sydney. The broader All Ordinaries Index declined 34.40, or 0.7 percent, to 4,943.

Oil companies: Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL AU), Australia's second-largest oil and gas producer, dropped A$2.50, or 4.3 percent, to A$56, the lowest since April 30. Santos Ltd. (STO AU) declined 91 cents, or 4.7 percent, to A$18.29, the lowest since May 15.

Oil, which dropped 11 percent this week before trading started today, is poised for a record weekly slump in dollar terms after declining more than $14 a barrel since July 11.

Babcock & Brown Power (BBP AU), Australia's biggest publicly traded electricity producer, advanced 3 cents, or 5.2 percent, to 71 cents. It was the index's fourth-biggest gainer after saying it agreed to sell a 73 percent stake in the Ecogen power generation business for A$87 million.

Mincor Resources NL (MCR AU), Australia's third-largest publicly traded nickel producer, advanced 14 cents, or 6.9 percent, the most since March 26, after saying output started at its McMahon mine less than eights months after project approval.

Paladin Energy Ltd. (PDN AU), an Australian producer of uranium in Namibia, fell 46 cents, or 7.9 percent, to A$5.35, the lowest in a month and the biggest loser on the benchmark. ABN Amro Holding NV cut Paladin's rating to ``hold'' from ``buy.''

Paperlinx Ltd. (PPX AU), Australia's largest papermaker and distributor, jumped 23 cents, or a record 14 percent, to A$1.89, the index's biggest gainer. The rating on the stock was raised to ``neutral'' at Credit Suisse Group AG.

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