The monthly review of Western Australian stocks and indices, the Deloitte WA Stock Exchange Index, dropped in February as a result of decreasing commodity prices.
The monthly review of Western Australian stocks and indices, the Deloitte WA Stock Exchange Index, dropped in February as a result of decreasing commodity prices.
The Deloitte WA Index recorded a $3 billion, or 3.25 per cent, drop in February compared with the ASX All Ordinaries decline of only 0.04 per cent.
The result was not all poor reading for WA companies, with 52 per cent of WA listed companies recording increases in market capitalisation in the month.
The fall in commodity prices has a direct correlation to the performance of the WA economy, which is heavily impacted by the resources sector.
Deloitte managing partner Keith Jones said the fall corresponded with decreasing commodity prices with nine out of 12 commodities falling by an average of 4.1 per cent in February.
“We are currently in a period of commodity price volatility but the fall in overall capitalisations was mainly due to the oil and gas sector, where the price per barrel dropped from US$68 to US$61 (9.6 per cent) in February,” Mr Jones said.
In this sector, Woodside Petroleum market capitalisation was down by over $3 billion, and Hardman Resources, Arc Energy and Tap Oil were also affected.
Other sectors were also impacted, with Wesfarmers’ capitalisation decreasing by $548 million and Fortescue Metals Group by $181 million.
Mr Jones said that overall the mining sector grew $115 million, with an average increase of 4.5 per cent.
The most significant gains came from Paladin Resources, LionOre Mining International and Anglo Pacific Group.
The iron and steel sector was lower by an average of 5.2 per cent with notable losses by Portman and Mount Gibson Iron.
The Deloitte WA Index tracked the uranium price in February for the first time, which has increased by a massive 328 per cent over the past five years.
Global market indices remained relatively stable during February with the S&P 500 and FTSE 100 recording marginal positive moves of 0.69 per cent and 1.66 per cent respectively.
The All Ordinaries and Nikkei fell 0.04 per cent and 2.67 per cent respectively.
It was the first Nikkei drop since April 2005 and was driven by a fall in the internet sector at an average of 10 per cent, Yahoo! being the primary contributor with a fall in market capitalisation of 13 per cent.
