Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares slip; investors await RBA meeting

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Australia shares slip; investors await RBA meeting Feb 5th 2013, 00:52 Mon Feb 4, 2013 7:52pm EST (Adds details, comments, stocks on the move) SYDNEY, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Australian shares slipped 0.6 percent on Tuesday after discouraging U.S. factory orders hit Wall Street and political ructions in Spain and Italy spurred profit-taking, while investors awaited the results of a Reserve Bank of Australia meeting due later in the day. Banks weighed on the index, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the country's top lender, down 0.7 percent. Global iron ore miners were weaker, with BHP Billiton Ltd losing 1.5 percent and Rio Tinto Ltd falling 1.2 percent. "Basically the market's tracking Europe and the U.S. lower, of course we did see risk assets struggle across the board," said Stan Shamu, a market strategist at IG Markets. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was 28.3 points lower at 4,879.2 as of 0030 GMT. On Monday, the benchmark index hit an intraday high of 4,951 but ended down 13.6 points at 4,907.5. The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to hold the cash rate steady at 3.0 percent at its first meeting of the year on Tuesday. "No one really knows what to expect today, the consensus is no change but what will make a difference is the statement and what it says about the economy and what we can expect going forward," Shamu said. Defensive stocks were mostly firmer, with food retailer giant Wesfarmers gaining 0.9 percent, while blood products maker CSL Ltd rose 1.1 percent. But telecommunications provider Telstra lost 0.8 percent. Oil miners were also weak. Woodside Petroleum dropped 1.6 percent, while Santos Ltd lost 0.8 percent. A corruption scandal in Spain and polls showing Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi regaining ground before elections this month triggered fresh concern over potential threats to euro zone stability and growth. "That news coming out of Europe is just making some investors feel like they need to exercise caution. Europe was one of the dominant themes last year weighing on markets and it seems like it's now resurfacing to rear its ugly head," said Shamu. Wall Street stocks slid on Monday, giving the S&P 500 its worst day since November, as renewed worries about the euro zone crisis caused the market to pull back from recent gains. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index fell 0.8 percent, or 32.5 points, to 4,213.9. STOCKS ON THE MOVE * Macquarie Group Ltd tumbled 3.6 percent. Australia's top investment bank forecast a smaller-than expected 10 percent rise in 2013 profit. (0028 GMT) * Cochlear slumped 5.4 percent. The maker of bionic ears reported half-year revenue was up 1 percent at A$391.7 million. (0028 GMT) (Reporting by Thuy Ong; Editing by Chris Gallagher) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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