PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The market capitalisation of Western Australian listed companies increased by 4.5% in October, to close the month at nearly A$123.9-billion, advisory firm Deloitte said on Wednesday.

Deloitte clients and markets partner for Western Australia, Tim Richards, said the strong performance of the miners and recent indications of fiscal stimulus from the European Central Bank helped strengthen Deloitte’s WA Index.

“The growth in October represents a possible shift in sentiment from what was a lengthy bear run for the WA Index up to September, which fell a whopping 20.6%, or A$30.8-billion, since June 2014,” he noted.

“The major mining companies really led this shift, with positive September quarterly results boosting many share prices. This included Fortescue Metals, South32 and Sandfire Resources, which saw market capitalisation rises of A$841-million, or 14.8%, A$532-million, or 7.3%, and A$149-million, or 17.6%, respectively.”

Richards added that, despite the recovery of the Index, iron-ore experienced the biggest decline for key commodities surveyed during October, dropping 10.8% to finish the month at $49.50/t.

“With demand contracting and production cuts not materialising as expected – in part due to the weakening of the Australian dollar against the US dollar and the successful cost cuts from Australian producers – a price rally currently looks unlikely,” he said.

Other commodities surveyed included platinum, which recovered to finish the month up 7.9% at $989/oz, while silver rose 7% to $15.57/oz, with virtually all of its gains coming in the first week of the month, following a four-month decline which came to an end in September.

Richards said many investors were of the opinion that the precious metal had bottomed out and would continue its recovery, with dealers around the world raising concerns around supply shortages.

Meanwhile, aluminium decreased 7.6%, continuing its year-long decline. Despite many of the Chinese smelters running at a loss, the price decline does not look like halting anytime soon, which may lead to reduced production, especially in the US.