Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares inch up, CBA reaches record high

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Australia shares inch up, CBA reaches record high Jan 7th 2013, 00:41 Tweet Share this Email Print Sun Jan 6, 2013 7:41pm EST (Adds details, comments, stocks on the move) SYDNEY, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Australian shares inched up 0.1 percent on Monday, led by banking stocks, with investor sentiment was buoyed by U.S. data showing a steady pace of jobs growth and brisk expansion in the services sector. Banks were mostly strong, with Westpac Banking Corporation leading gains, rising 0.5 percent. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia dropped 0.4 percent after hitting an all time high of A$63.70. "People would be taking profit, reaching an all-time high of that magnitude tends to mean people will cash that in," said Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG Markets. "They've certainly reached a high resistance level of A$63 which they got to about 10 minutes after trade opened and since then have been trading down with pretty strong volumes." Defensives were also strong with blood products maker CSL Ltd up 0.2 percent and multisector retailer Wesfarmers adding 0.4 percent. The S&P/ASX 200 index was 5.7 points higher at 4,729.5 by 0027 GMT. It fell 16.9 points on Friday after reaching 19-month highs earlier in the week. "The official government unemployment data release actually showed the U.S. labour market is slowly but surely healing itself," said Lucas. "The U.S. market quite liked that and they moved up quite strongly on Friday night's trade and we're following suit." Miners were were weak, BHP Billtion Ltd lost 0.4 percent while rival Rio Tinto Ltd dropped 0.9 percent. The top iron ore miner is considering the suspension of operations in the Northern Territory after talks with the government over power supplies to the plant broke down last month. Iron ore climbed to its highest in more than a year at around $150 a tonne on Friday, with Chinese mills continuing to replenish inventories as recent economic data fuelled hopes of better demand in the new year. The U.S. Labor Department said non-farm payrolls grew by 155,000 jobs last month, slightly below November's level. Gains were distributed broadly throughout the economy, from manufacturing and construction to healthcare. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index rose 0.3 percent to 4,085.8. STOCKS ON THE MOVE * Lynas Corp Ltd jumped 8 percent after it said it expects to begin commercial production at its rare earths plant in Malaysia in the next few weeks, with a ramp up in production to take place over the next three months. (0026 GMT) (Reporting By Thuy Ong; Editing by Eric Meijer) 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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