Deloitte WA Index back in the black

The market capitalisation of listed companies in Western Australia returned to positive territory during February, rising 2.7 per cent to $159.3 billion, the Deloitte WA Index showed.

The increase followed a 7.6 per cent fall in value in January - the first decline in the Deloitte WA Index after 12 months of growth.

"February has seen a rebound in the Deloitte WA index, following a weak start to the year in January," said Keith Jones, managing partner of Deloitte in WA.

"During the month we have also seen a strong performance in commodity prices, with values for most metals increasing, supported by improved economic growth in China."

The increase was largely driven by Wesfarmers and Woodside Petroleum posting significant increases for the month of $3.6 billion (13.2 per cent) and $2 billion (6.4 per cent) respectively.

The 'movers and shakers' for the month of February include Ampella Mining, Sphere Minerals and Antares Energy with the market capitalisation of each company increasing by 44.3 per cent, 31.6 per cent and 22.7 per cent respectively.

Shares in Ampella Mining have risen following the announcement of a 1.2 million inferred resource estimate at the Batie West Gold Project, Burkina Faso in West Africa after only acquiring this project less than 18 months ago.

Sphere Minerals also achieved a strong increase in market capitalisation for February. It is an iron-ore exploration and development company with its principal project being the Guelb el Aouj iron ore (magnetite) project in Mauritania, West Africa.

During the month, Antares Energy, an Australian-based petroleum exploration and production company, announced the completion of a placement of 30 million shares to raise $19.2 million to assist in funding the ongoing development of its Eagle Ford Shale acreage.

The majority of the major world indices also increased during February. The FTSE 100 led the way with an increase of 3.6 per cent for the month, followed by the US S&P 500 and Australian All Ordinaries with increases of 1.8 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively. The Nikkei was the only indices to fall, with a decrease of 0.7 per cent.

The commodities market in February performed well, with gains made by all metals except for Uranium and Tin which dropped 1.76 per cent and 0.57 per cent respectively.

Nickel posted a significant gain, increasing by 14.4 per cent for the month as a result of improved economic growth in China driving up demand for steel and nickel. Solid gains were also made by Oil, Lead and Copper with increases of 9.29 per cent, 6.94 per cent and 6.60 per cent respectively.