Stocks in Australia Index Falls, Led by Newcrest After Gold Price Declines

www.bloomberg.com By Darren Boey

Sydney, Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Australian stocks fell, paced by gold miners such as Newcrest Mining Ltd., after the price of the metal dropped on concern the U.S. failed to provide evidence to the United Nations to justify an attack on Iraq.

The S&P/ASX 200 dropped 15.50, or 0.5 percent, to 2903.20 as of 10:23 a.m. in Sydney. Five stocks declined for each that advanced. The broader All Ordinaries Index fell 0.5 percent to 2883.

Gold for April delivery fell 0.7 percent to $377.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Newcrest slid 19 cents, or 2.9 percent, to A$6.33. Croesus Mining NL slumped 4 cents, or 4.4 percent, to 86 cents. Lihir Gold Ltd. fell 5 cents, or 3.2 percent, to A$1.52.

New Zealand's stock market is closed for the Waitangi Day public holiday.

The following stocks are, or were, active. The stock symbols are in parentheses after the company names.

Australian stocks:

BHP Billiton (BHP AU ), which makes a third of its earnings from oil, gained 6 cents, or 0.7 percent, to A$9.15. Crude oil for March delivery gained 1 percent to $33.93 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest closing price for a most- active contract since Nov. 29, 2000.

David Jones Ltd. (DJS AU ) added a cent, or 0.9 percent, to A$1.08. The department store owner said its second- quarter sales rose 3.4 percent to A$538.8 million ($318 million). It kept its full-year net income forecast of a 15 percent to 20 percent gain unchanged, the company said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.

Goodman Fielder Ltd. (GMF AU ) climbed 6 cents, or 3.5 percent, to A$1.79. Goodman, the target of a hostile takeover offer from rival foodmaker Burns Philp & Co. (BPC AU ), rose as 3.8 percent of its shares changed hands. Credit Suisse First Boston, which is advising Burns Philp, bought 41 million of the 46 million Goodman Fielder shares traded so far today.

Macquarie Infrastructure Group (MIG AU ): The toll- road investor said average daily revenue from its M1 highway in Sydney, Australia's most populous city, rose 11 percent in January from a year ago.