The Australian All Ordinaries extended its recent gains today with a slight bump to 5,189 points after an afternoon rally brought the index back from a 1,141-point midday low.
Resource companies struggled on the session with metals trading mostly lower and crude oil continuing to lose steam in the wake of Friday’s terrorist attacks.
One European operator, however, managed to keep adding value in an often overlooked commodities-agribusiness sector.
MARKET ACTION
Although mining companies lost 1.4% in value as a group during trading today, potash developer Highfield Resources (ASX:HFR) shares edged up to A$1.57, representing a 45% climb over the past three months.
The lastest interest has followed quickly on news this week that the company’s Muga potash project in Spain would benefit from a host of operational efficiencies thanks to a positive optimisation study.
The study has doubled the Muga mine life to 47 years, with a start date expected in October 2017 for production at a rate of 1.1 million tonnes of K60 granular muriate of potash per annum.
The optimisation has produced robust financial metrics including a post-tax, unlevered internal rate of return of 38.9% and a net present value (NPV) with a discount rate of 8% of US$2.1 billion.
Pre-production capex increased only marginally to €267 million (A$402 million) while proven and probable reserves grew 73% from Definitive Feasibility Study estimates to 253 million tonnes with an average grade of 11.5% K2O and an average metallurgical recovery rate of 88% of KCl contained in sylvinite.
Critically, the work has maintained a level of capex below budget, which suggests Highfield remains well on track to delivering the mine within its capex estimate.
BLUE CHIPS
Major miners
BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) down 2.9% to $19.78
Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) down 3.1% to $2.15
Newcrest (ASX:NCM) down 4.1% to $11.10
Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) down 2.6% to $46.86
Energy or Oil and Gas
Oil Search (ASX:OSH) down 0.8% to $8.09
Santos (ASX:STO) up 0.9% to $4.38
Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL) up 0.7% to $29.61
Big 4 banks
ANZ Bank (ASX:ANZ) up 1.2% to $26.81
Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) up 1.1% to $77.92
National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) up 1.2% to $28.84
Westpac (ASX:WBC) up 0.7% to $30.83
Other banks, financials and industrials
AMP (ASX:AMP) up 0.5% to $5.75
Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) up 2.6% to $14.03
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (ASX:BEN) up 0.5% to $10.87
Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) up 1.0% to $81.52
Suncorp (ASX:SUN) up 1.0% to $13.16
Telstra (ASX:TLS) up 0.9% to $5.34
Retailers
JB Hi-FI (ASX:JBH) up 2.0% to $17.87
Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) down 0.2% to $37.55
Woolworths (ASX:WOW) down 1.1% to $23.15
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