WA stocks value rise to $145bn: Deloitte

The market capitalisation of Western Australian companies in the Deloitte WA Index increased marginally in October to $144.9 billion, bucking the global downward trend in equity values during the month.

Deloitte WA Managing Partner Keith Jones said the Deloitte WA Index increased by 0.2 per cent despite weaknesses in world indices, including the All Ordinaries, which decreased by 1.9 per cent.

"The continued strength in commodity prices has supported the WA Index due to its significant exposure to the mining and resources sector," Mr Jones said

Movers and shakers during October within the Deloitte WA Index included Focus Minerals , United Minerals Corporation and Centamin Egypt, with the market capitalisation of each company increasing by 47.5 per cent, 42.1 per cent and 37.6 per cent respectively.

Focus Minerals increased its market capitalisation following the announcement of an $8 million institutional share placement, with funds to be used for the refurbished Three Mile Hill mill, exploration and reserve definition drilling.

Focus also released a market presentation at the Australian Gold Conference, detailing their future plans, including their aim for 100,000 ounces of gold production by 2011.

During October, United Minerals announced it had received a conditional cash offer from BHP Billiton of $1.30 per share for 100 per cent of its share capital, valuing the company at approximately $204 million. The offer was priced at a 43 per cent premium to the last traded price on Oct 6.

Centamin Egypt applied for admission to the Official List of the London Stock Exchange. Following its acceptance into the Official List, Centamin announced it had met the criteria to delist from the ASX and that this will occur on the 29 January 2010.

Following significant share price rises after the release of their 2009 Annual Report, Centamin responded to an ASX price query, stating there was no significant event known to have caused this, other than perhaps the ongoing impact of their new listing plans.

In contrast to the Deloitte WA Index, all the major world indices have fallen slightly in October. The Nikkei fell by 1 per cent, while the Australian All Ordinaries, US S&P 500 and FTSE 100 all fell further, decreasing by 1.9 per cent, 2.3 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively.

The month has seen continued increases across most commodities, with uranium recovering strongly following last month's fall, with the prevailing price increasing 17.6 per cent.

BHP Billiton announced to suppliers that its Olympic Dam operations, which produced approximately 4000 tonnes last year (just under 10 per cent of global supplies), would be out of commission for at least a month, causing a disruption to supply and as such placing upward pressure on prices.

Of the base metals, Zinc, Oil and Palladium were not far behind, with increases of 9.8 per cent, 9.1 per cent, and 8.3 per cent, respectively.

There were also smaller increases for Copper, Gold, Nickel and Platinum, up 5 per cent, 3.7 per cent, 2.2 per cent and 2.1 per cent respectively.

Both Aluminium and Lead stayed relatively stable, increasing only 1 per cent each. Silver and Tin both opposed the trend with decreases of 2 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively.