Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares edge up, but suffers biggest weekly drop since May 2012

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Australia shares edge up, but suffers biggest weekly drop since May 2012 Mar 22nd 2013, 05:53 Fri Mar 22, 2013 1:53am EDT (Adds details, comments) SYDNEY, March 22 (Reuters) - Australian shares inched up 0.2 percent on Friday and snapped a four-day losing run as investors bought beaten down banking stocks, but that didn't prevent the market from sliding to its biggest weekly loss in almost a year. "There's no reason at all, perhaps the pullback was enough to entice people in, who knows?" said Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG Markets, referring to the modest uptick in the market. The S&P/ASX 200 index added 7.9 points to finish the week at 4,967.3, breaking four consecutive days of losses. The benchmark fell 3 percent for the week, its biggest weekly drop since May 2012. The Australian market has risen around 7 percent this year, buoyed by a relatively strong earnings season, upbeat domestic data and signs of improvement in the global economy. The risk of a debt default in Cyprus and concerns about political instability after Thursday's unsuccessful challenge to Prime Minister Julia Gillard's leadership continued to keep most buyers at bay. The European Union gave Cyprus until Monday to raise the billions of euros it needs to clinch an international bailout or face the collapse of its financial system and likely exit from the euro currency zone. "There was no smoking gun which attracted people to the banks but when they started moving up they moved up reasonably aggressively." Financial heavyweights underpinned the index, with Westpac Banking Corp climbing 1.4 percent, and Australia New Zealand Banking Group rising 1.5 percent. On the other hand, losses for some of the big mining stocks curtailed the market's gains. Global miner BHP Billiton Ltd slipped 0.2 percent, rival Rio Tinto Ltd lost 0.7 percent, and world no.4 iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group lost 2.6 percent. Oil miners also lost ground, after crude oil prices dropped more than 1 percent as the worries about Cyprus and the euro zone revived concerns about the outlook for petroleum demand. Woodside Petroleum slipped 0.2 percent and Santos dropped 1.4 percent. Gold miners were firmer, as safe-haven demand for bullion took it to its highest in nearly a month. Newcrest Mining Ltd jumped 1.6 percent while Regis Resources Ltd tacked on 1.4 percent. Billabong International Ltd soared 7.9 percent, recouping some of Thursday's steep losses that were driven by concerns about the status of competing bids for the surfwear maker. The troubled Australian firm said it remains in talks with two groups that are weighing $544 million bids for the company. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index finished the week flat at 4,342.9 points. (Reporting by Thuy Ong; Editing by Shri Navaratnam) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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