Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares end flat after notching 20-mth high

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 end flat after notching 20-mth high Jan 22nd 2013, 05:39 Tweet Share this Email Print Related Topics Basic Materials » Energy » Industrials » Tue Jan 22, 2013 12:39am EST (Adds details, comments) SYDNEY, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Australian shares ended a volatile trading day flat, retreating from a fresh 20-month high hit earlier on Tuesday with the Bank of Japan's asset buying plans to stimulate the economy failing to bolster investor confidence as they had been largely factored in. "Right up until the Bank of Japan decision people were in a holding pattern," said Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG Markets. "We traded in Australia above 4,800 and then there was position squaring going into the Bank of Japan meeting given the expectations that were built in." The S&P/ASX 200 index finished the day 1.6 points higher at 4,779.1, after peaking at 4,801.7 during trade. The benchmark inched up 0.1 percent to hit a 20-month high of 4,777.5 on Monday. The Bank of Japan doubled its inflation target to 2 percent and eased monetary policy further, a widely expected move in response to relentless political pressure for bolder action to pull the country out of deflation. Weston said investors were taking profits off the table. "The volatility now is just surrounded by what we've seen," he said. Global miners BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Ltd were up 0.1 percent and 0.7 percent respectively. Gold finished the day weaker as the metal remained flat. Newcrest Mining Ltd slipped 0.2 percent. Perseus Mining Ltd lost 5.9 percent on the back of a disappointing production report which showed gold production was 13 percent below revised production guidance range for the quarter. Banks were mixed. National Australia Bank dropped 1 percent on a report that Spanish bank Santander denied speculation it is interested in buying NAB's troubled British banks. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group slipped 0.1 percent. Australia's top lender the Commonwealth Bank of Australia rose 0.6 percent, while Westpac Banking Corp finished flat. The defensive sector was mostly firmer. Telecommunications provider Telstra inched up 0.2 percent. Supermarket retailer Woolworths Ltd climbed 1.1 percent. Blood products maker CSL Ltd, bucked the trend, easing 0.4 percent. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index also finished flat, up 1.9 points to 4,187.1. (Reporting by Thuy Ong; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) 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.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions