The state's mining sector weighed heavily on the market capitalisation of Western Australian stocks, which lost $36 billion during October, a survey has found.
The state's mining sector weighed heavily on the market capitalisation of Western Australian stocks, which lost $36 billion during October, a survey has found.
The state's mining sector weighed heavily on the market capitalisation of Western Australian stocks, which lost $36 billion during October, a survey has found.
The Deloitte WA Index reported that as at the end of October, its index closed at $91.2 billion, down 28.3 per cent on the previous month.
This compares with a 14 per cent drop during October by the Australian All Ordinaries index.
In its report, the company said the principal driver of the sharp decline of WA stocks was the uncertainty surrounding China's future demand for the state's resources.
"Commodity prices continued to fall during October, with the prices of oil, copper and zinc recording the largest reductions of 34.46%, 34.35% and 31.36% respectively," Deloitte said.
The Deloitte WA Mining Index fell 37.97 per cent or $18.5 billion during the month, with Fortescue Metals Group leading the decline with a fall of $4.8 billion or 36.68 per cent in its market capitalisation.
FMG was followed by Aquila Resources, down $1.4 billion or 60.11 per cent, Equinox Minerals dropped $1.1 billion or 57.26 per cent and Paladin Energy which lost $1.1 billion or 41.79 per cent.
Other notable falls included Woodside Petroleum, down $5.85 billion or 16.66 per cent, and Wesfarmers lost $4.3 billion or 23.3 per cent.
Movers and shakers for the month were Oilex, which increased its market capitalisation by over 10 per cent to $79 million while Arafura Resources was up by 3.33 per cent to $78 million thanks to the announcement of a rights issue.
Meanwhile the takeover battle over Incremental Petroleum boosted the stock's market capitalisation by 13.75 per cent to 85 million.
All three stocks have now entered into the top 100 WA companies on the Deloitte WA index for the October month.