Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares slip 0.3 pct as miners and energy fall

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Australia shares slip 0.3 pct as miners and energy fall Nov 23rd 2012, 01:07 Tweet Share this Email Print Thu Nov 22, 2012 8:07pm EST (Adds details, comments) CANBERRA, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Australian shares edged down 0.3 percent on Friday, struggling to consolidate their return above 4,400 points as the market lacked drivers with U.S. markets closed for a holiday. The index was also dragged down by miners and energy stocks, with BHP Billiton Ltd down 0.3 percent and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd falling 1.7 percent. "Because we've seen some good gains in the sector, I suspect profit taking will probably be a dominant factor at play in the market today," said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets. Other analysts said miners would be further hit by China's plan to cut taxes for its domestic iron ore miners. The news was particularly bad for small miners in Australia and was starting to bite into the performance of the whole sector, said Damien Boey, an equity strategist at Credit Suisse. Australian miners would have to scale back their capex expansion and probably cut jobs, further hurting the local economy, he said. Energy stocks lost ground on weaker oil prices, with Woodside Petroleum Ltd slipping 0.6 percent and Origin Energy Ltd falling 1.3 percent. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 12.3 points at 4,400.8 by 0039 GMT. It rose 1 percent on Thursday, breaking above key resistance on positive Chinese manufacturing data. Of the major banks, top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia gained 0.3 percent, while Westpac Banking Corp lost 0.6 percent. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index rose 0.3 percent to 4,010.2. STOCKS ON THE MOVE * Lynas Corp jumped 5.9 percent to A$0.72, extending its rally after it said on Thursday that it would start operation at its $800 million Malaysian plant with the arrival of the first shipment of rare-earth concentrates. (0033 GMT) * Mining services company Ausdrill Ltd plunged 8.9 percent to its lowest price since December 2010, after it said its full year revenue was expected to decline by $50 million with a number of one-off costs. (0036 GMT) (Reporting By Maggie Lu Yueyang; Editing by Jeremy Laurence) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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