ASX Round-Up: Market Spurred by BHP Billiton’s Prospective Spin Off

Aug. 15, 2014 11:20AM PST

News that BHP Billiton wants to spin off its aluminum, nickel and manganese assets helped push the market to a two-week high today.

Today, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) rose 18 points, or 0.32 percent, closing at 5,566.5 points. That’s a two-week high, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Pushing the market up was BHP Billiton’s (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BLT) announcement that it wants to spin off its aluminum, nickel and manganese assets, potentially creating a separate business worth $14 billion.

Unsurprisingly, BHP was one of today’s top gainers, jumping 2.33 percent, or $0.89, to trade at $39.05. Also performing well was Mount Gibson Iron (ASX:MGX), which gained 6.99 percent, or $0.05, to trade at $0.765. It’s an independent producer of iron ore products and operates three mines.

On the other side of the market, Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) lost 2.6 percent, or $0.02, to trade at $0.75. The company owns and operates five gold and silver mines in Australia. Uranium-focused Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) also fell, dropping 2.5 percent, or $0.01, to trade at $0.39.