By Shani Raja
Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 1.6 percent to 3,394.80 as of 12:45 p.m. in Sydney, the lowest since Jan. 23. The following were among the most active shares in the Australian market today. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names.
Financial stocks: The Standard & Poor’s 500 Financials Index retreated 5.2 percent in New York to its lowest level since January 1995, after Fitch Ratings said credit-card defaults are about to surpass a previous high of 7.53 percent as people losing jobs fail to repay debt. Defaults may reach as high as 11 percent of loans by yearend, according to a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst.
Macquarie Group Ltd. (MQG AU), Australia’s largest investment bank, slumped 6 percent to A$20.57, the lowest since Oct. 18, 2002. National Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB AU), the nation’s biggest lender by assets, slipped 2.8 percent to A$17.88. Separately, Goldman Sachs cut its recommendation on National Australia’s stock to “hold” from “buy.”
Caltex Australia Ltd. (CTX AU) tumbled 10 percent to A$8.64, the benchmark’s second-biggest loser. The nation’s largest oil refiner said full-year profit plunged 95 percent as production fell and a drop in the price of crude cut the value of stockpiles.
Gloucester Coal Ltd. (GCL AU), an Australian producer of the fuel, surged 4.3 percent to A$3.42, the most since Jan. 29. The company agreed to acquire Whitehaven Coal Ltd. for A$545 million ($351 million) in shares, adding five mines that supply power stations and a stake in an export terminal project.
Perpetual Ltd. (PPT AU), an Australian fund manager, plunged 8.3 percent to A$24.50, the lowest since June 2000, after the company’s rating was cut to “sell” from “hold” at Citigroup Inc. Perpetual said on Feb. 18 that first-half profit fell 84 percent on investment losses and customer withdrawals.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shani Raja in Sydney at sraja4@bloomberg.net.
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