Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares edge lower but near 17-mth highs, volume light

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Australia shares edge lower but near 17-mth highs, volume light Dec 17th 2012, 00:49 Tweet Share this Email Print Sun Dec 16, 2012 7:49pm EST (Adds comments, stocks on the move) MELBOURNE, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Australian shares edged 0.1 percent lower on Monday in thin trade as investors started to go on holidays and amid uncertainty over U.S. fiscal discussions, but remained near 17-month highs reached on a recovery in iron ore prices. Banks, healthcare and other industrial shares led the modest declines, while mining stocks gained some reprieve, helped by encouraging manufacturing data from China on Friday. "The volumes are very tiny," said Patersons Securities dealer Martin Angel, adding many players were now out for the Christmas and New Year break. Among the top miners, BHP Billiton rose 0.8 percent to A$36.35. "There has been a lot of money sitting on the sidelines and people are just nibbling away at some quality stocks," Angel said. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index slipped 3.4 points to stand at 4,579.7 at 0015 GMT. The benchmark ended flat on Friday. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index dipped 0.2 percent to 3,971.9. STOCKS ON THE MOVE * Shares in Fortescue Metals Group jumped 3 percent after the group said it is in talks to sell a minority stake in its multi-billion dollar port and rail assets as it looks to cut debt and build new mines in a world of weaker iron ore prices. 0010 GMT * Shares in contractor Leighton Holdings Ltd gained 2.1 percent to A$17.17 as competition for its fibre-optics business NextGen heated up. KKR & Co LP has jumped into the auction, a source told Reuters, pitting it against rival buyout firm Providence Equity Partners 0010 GMT * Shares in surfwear company Billabong International Ltd jumped 6 percent on a report that a director has made a buyout offer for the company. * Shares in publisher Fairfax Media were in a trading halt after it sold off its 51 percent stake in New Zealand online business Trade Me Ltd -- seen by many analysts as its best asset -- for A$616 million ($649 million) to help cut debt. (Reporting by Victoria Thieberger; Editing by Edwina Gibbs) 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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