The All Ordinaries (Indexasx: XAO) (ASX: XAO) has dropped 1.5% to 5,536.10, as concerns over Greece continue to weight on the market. Across the sectors, utilities were slammed down 4%, energy, materials and resources were down more than 2% while gold and consumer staples managed to post positive returns for the day.
These five stocks were also slammed hard…
Bradken Limited (ASX: BKN) fell 11.3% to $1.525 after the mining consumables group said it would explore a merger with a subsidiary of Chilean industrial company Sigdo Koppers. Private equity firm CHAMP and Sigdo invested $70 million in Bradken through convertible shares, with proceeds used to pay down debt. Bradken expects to report net debt of $420 million at the end of June 2015.
Iron ore miner Mount Gibson Iron Limited (ASX: MGX) lost 6.7% to 21 cents as the iron ore price dropped overnight. Iron ore fell 0.5% overnight to US$62.19 per tonne overnight and appears headed below the US$60 mark very soon. We could see prices beginning with a 4 according to some brokers – which would create major issues for junior iron ore miners like Mount Gibson.
Worleyparsons Limited (ASX: WOR) dropped 7.2% to $10.10, as the energy and resources company continues to struggle with the downturn in commodity prices. That means Worleyparsons has seen a deterioration in workload since February, and expects second half earnings to be roughly 50% of the first half. The company's lowest price in five years was recorded earlier this year, and the price could be headed beyond that when Worleyparsons reports its full year results in August.
Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG) has seen its shares fall 6.6% to $11.70. Origin owns 53% of New Zealand's Contact Energy and the company recently announced that it pay a special dividend of 50 cents per share, totalling NZ$367 million. Contact also says that it will now target a payout ratio of roughly 100% of earnings, after reporting that it had no near-term plans for large capital investments and had given up looking for acquisitions. Reports suggest Origin needs the cash, which may be why investors are a bit worried.
Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) has dropped 6.1% to $1.99, and could be headed for its 5-year low of $1.75 or worse. Concerns remain over Fortescue's ability to remain profitable as iron ore prices fall, which combined with its huge lump of US dollar denominated debt could see the company forced to sell off assets. While most of the miners' debt is not due until 2019, the company still has to make regular interest repayments.
