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Market wowed by Antofagasta cost-cutting

A better than expected reduction in costs at the Chilean copper miner was enough to cause a 9 per cent leap in the share price
August 17, 2016

Forward guidance and well-trailed production reports mean financial results are rarely the source of leaps in the share price of large miners. But so sharp was the reduction in second-quarter unit costs at Chilean copper miner Antofagasta (ANTO) that the market sent the stock up by 9 per cent on the publication of half-year numbers.

IC TIP: Buy at 560p

Given the rise was more or less equal to the sell-off that greeted March's preliminaries, it's tempting to read the reintroduction of the dividend - equal to 35 per cent of annual net earnings - as the main cause of the rally this time around. But investors will have been equally enthused by stable operating cash-flow generation of $774m (£595m) despite a 14.6 per cent decline in prices, and a second-half weighting to production.

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