Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares slip 0.4 pct, traders cautious ahead of Easter

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Australia shares slip 0.4 pct, traders cautious ahead of Easter Mar 28th 2013, 00:46 Wed Mar 27, 2013 8:46pm EDT (Adds details on stock movements, comments, stocks on the move) SYDNEY, March 28 (Reuters) - Australian shares slipped 0.4 percent on Thursday, dragged down by banks, as investors shunned long positions on the last day of trade before Easter on worries about the Cyprus financial crisis and its consequences for the euro zone. "Whatever is happening in Europe in terms of Cyprus and the ramifications of that, maybe a lot of traders just don't want to be long or don't want to have positions over this long weekend," said Winston Sammut, investment director at Maxim Asset Management. Big banks all lost ground, backing off from the pervious session's gains on upbeat comments from the Reserve Bank of Australia. National Australia Bank Ltd was the biggest percentage loser among the big four banks, declining 1.1 percent. Australia's No. 1 lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia was down 0.9 percent. The S&P/ASX 200 index had lost 19.5 points to trade at 4,975.5 by 0028 GMT. The benchmark rose 0.9 percent on Wednesday. Leading miners traded higher on recovering iron ore prices. BHP Billiton Ltd added 0.4 percent and Rio Tinto Ltd gained 1.0 percent. Even so, IG Markets strategist Evan Lucas said in a note that non-mining sectors had led the market higher in the first quarter, while the resource sector's weighting had fallen to levels not seen since mid-2007. Financial stocks, he said, now made up 30 percent of the ASX 200, their highest weighting in a decade. Consumer staples were weaker, with Australia's biggest supermarket chain Woolworths Ltd losing 1.1 percent. Rival Coles-owner Wesfarmers Ltd fell 1.0 percent. Blood products maker CSL ltd bucked the trend and gained 1.0 percent, while the flagship telco company Telstra Corp Ltd declined 0.3 percent. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index inched down 0.1 percent to 4,407.2, after reaching a intraday high of 4,412.5. STOCKS ON THE MOVE * Bluescope Steel Ltd, Australia's largest steel maker, jumped 2.4 percent to A$4.99 after it started its $1.36 billion metal joint venture with Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp after completing the sale of 50 percent of business. (0016 GMT) * Linc Energy Ltd dived 12.4 percent to A$2.34, after it said it had raised A$200 million in a convertible bonds issue. (0017 GMT) * Agriculture chemicals company Nufarm Ltd plunged 14.3 percent to A$4.09, after it posted disappointing H1 profits and gave a downbeat outlook on Monday. (0018 GMT) * Australian construction firm Leighton Holdings Ltd edged up 0.2 percent to A$20.65, after it said it had reached agreement with Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan for the sale of about 70 percent of its telecommunications assets. (0015 GMT) (Reporting By Maggie Lu Yueyang; Editing by Stephen Coates) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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