Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares seen slipping on U.S. cliff worry

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Australia shares seen slipping on U.S. cliff worry Dec 26th 2012, 21:47 Tweet Share this Email Print Wed Dec 26, 2012 4:47pm EST MELBOURNE, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set to dip on Thursday following a two-day break, on fears U.S. lawmakers may fail to avert sharp tax hikes and spending cuts due to take effect next week. * There was no local stock futures trading during the Christmas break, but Wall Street gave a weak lead. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed at 4,635.19 on Monday, up 0.25 percent in a short session. * New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index rose 0.2 percent to 4,065.5 in early trade. * U.S. stocks fell for a third straight day on Wednesday, dragged lower by retail stocks after a report showed consumers spent less in the holiday shopping season than last year. * Shanghai copper rose to a one-week high on Wednesday on a brighter outlook for demand in top consumer China, but early gains were eroded and prices ended flat as concerns about a potential U.S. fiscal crisis kept investors on the edge. * President Barack Obama is due back in Washington early Thursday for a final effort to negotiate a deal with Congress to avert or at least postpone the "fiscal cliff". The legislative focus continues to shift from deficit reduction to averting the immediate shock of the Dec. 31 cliff dive. * Fortescue Metals Group should get a boost after announcing it will go ahead developing its Kings deposit to complete an iron ore expansion to 155 million tonnes a year, which was put on hold in September amid a cash crunch. * Investors will be looking out for early word from local retailers on how they fared in the Christmas and post-Christmas sales, with eyes on department store chains Myer and David Jones, electronics retailers JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman, and others, like Premier Investments and The Reject Shop. ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2106 GMT ------------ INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 1419.83 -0.48% -6.830 USD/JPY 85.62 1.04% 0.880 10-YR US TSY YLD 1.7528 -- -0.023 SPOT GOLD 1659.24 0.06% 0.950 US CRUDE 91.09 2.80% 2.480 DOW JONES 13114.59 -0.19% -24.49 ASIA ADRS 130.29 0.35% 0.45 ------------------------------------------------------------- * Wall St down for 3rd day, retail weak * Oil jumps in thin trade, U.S. crude near 10-week high * Gold up in thin post-Christmas trade; US budget focus * Shanghai copper hits 1-week high, China recovery eyed For a digest of the day's business stories in Australian newspapers, double click on (Australia/New Zealand bureaux; +61 2 9373 1800/+64 4 471 4234) 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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