Strong gains for Oil Search, Lihir
in weak market
OIL Search and Lihir Gold made big gains on the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday with the price of gold hitting new highs above US$1,000 (K2906.98) an ounce and oil remaining at record levels despite the weakened US economy.
The price of the yellow metal rose to a new record high of US$1,030.80 (K2994.19) in Asian trade yesterday.
Oil Search shares surged by A$0.22c, or 4.9%, to A$4.68 after a A$0.10 gain yesterday with much of the impetus coming from last Friday’s announcement by ExxonMobil that a joint operating agreement had been signed on the group’s K28 billion LNG project.
Lihir gained A$0.19, or 4.6%, to A$4.37 after Monday’s gain of A$0.11 a share.
Other PNG stocks mainly succumbed to the weakness on the Australian market, where the All Ordinaries Index shed 115.3 points to 5,173.2 following a sharp drop on Wall Street.
Allied Gold, which made its first gold pour last month, saw its share price drop A$0.04 to A$0.63.5, Marengo was down A$0.015 to A$0.205 while Frontier was down A$0.03 to A$0.091a share.
The long troubled Highlands Pacific, which will gain significant cash flows once Ramu Nickel begins production late next year, also shed A$0.005 to A$0.115.
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