Chalco 2012 suffers big net loss

BEIJING: Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (Chalco) , the country's top aluminium maker, posted a worse-than-expected net loss of 8.2 billion yuan ($1.3 billion)for 2012 on Wednesday, as it faced low aluminium prices and rising costs.

Chalco had warned of a full-year loss in January in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The loss was far deeper than an average forecast for a 4.78 billion yuan net loss from 20 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, and compared with a net profit of 237.97 million yuan a year ago.

Chalco's Hong Kong-listed shares ended up 0.32 percent on Wednesday before the results were announced.

They are down 11.8 percent so far this year, compared with a 0.85 percent loss on the broader Hang Seng Index in the same period.