SYDNEY: Australia stocks took a turn for the worse in early Friday trading, with the S&P/ASX 200 XJO, -1.51% down 1.1% a half-hour into the session, wiping out most of the benchmark’s 1.4% gain the day before. Resource names fell broadly, tripping over weaker commodity prices, including a significant pullback for iron ore (sending Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. FMG, -5.24% FSUMF, -0.67% down 3.8% and Arrium Ltd. ARI, +0.00% ARRMF, -42.86% down 5.6%) and Comex gold’s third day of losses (sending Newcrest Mining Ltd. NCM, -3.73% NCMGF, -5.05% down 1.9% and St. Barbara Ltd. SBM, -6.67% down 2.5%). Likewise, with Nymex and Brent crude-oil futures both in retreat during early Sydney trade, Oil Search Ltd. OSH, -3.42% OISHF, -2.68% lost 1.8%, WorleyParsons Ltd. WOR, -2.32% WYGPF, +0.60% dropped 1.5% and Santos Ltd. STO, -3.45% STOSF, +0.41% surrendered 2.5%. However, Woodside Petroleum Ltd. WPL, -2.04% WOPEF, -2.17% sat little changed, possibly buoyed by Credit Suisse’s upgrade of its shares to outperform from neutral. Meanwhile, Qantas Airways Ltd. QAN, -3.67% QUBSF, +2.50% traded 2% lower after announcing it would spend roughly $70 million on one-time bonus payments to most of its workforce, which had been under a pay freeze since early 2014.
