Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares rally, highest close in 17 months

Reuters: Hot Stocks Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Australia shares rally, highest close in 17 months Dec 19th 2012, 05:24 Tweet Share this Email Print Wed Dec 19, 2012 12:24am EST (Updates with closing levels) SYDNEY, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Australian shares rallied 0.5 percent, breaking above the 4,600 level, lifted by strong metal prices and optimism over U.S. budget talks to avoid the "fiscal cliff" of automatic spending cuts and tax increases. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index gained 22.6 points to 4,617.8, according to latest data, the highest close since July 8, 2011. Top miners BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Ltd jumped 1.1 percent and 1.6 percent respectively. OZ Minerals dropped 9.8 percent, its biggest one-day drop in 3-1/2 years, on talk that analysts were cutting forecasts for production and earnings. Oz Minerals' spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index closed 1.1 percent, or 43.8 points higher at 4,023. (Reporting by Thuy Ong and Sonali Paul; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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