Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares down after trade data, defensives stumble

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Australia shares down after trade data, defensives stumble Mar 7th 2013, 05:53 Tweet Share this Email Print Related Topics Basic Materials » Cyclical Consumer Goods » Energy » Industrials » Thu Mar 7, 2013 12:53am EST (Adds detail, comments) SYDNEY, Mar 7 (Reuters) - Australian shares slipped 0.2 percent on Thursday, dragged down by defensive stocks after official figures showed the country's trade deficit widened by more than expected and investors awaited China's trade balance due out on Friday. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the deficit widened to A$1.06 billion ($1.08 billion) in January -- from A$688 million the month before -- as bad weather hit resource exports, though a rebound in imports of capital goods and cars pointed to resilience in domestic demand. "A poor trade balance reading this morning really set the downside tone and saw the market lose its grip," said Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG Markets. Defensives dragged on the market: Blood products maker CSL Ltd dropped 1.5 percent, top telecoms provider Telstra Ltd lost 0.7 percent while supermarket chain Woolworths Ltd slipped 0.1 percent. "Straight after the data came out we had the market pulling back, we're down modestly," said Steve Daghlian, market analyst at Commonwealth Securities. The S&P/ASX 200 index finished the day 7.6 points lower at 5,109.2. The benchmark rose 0.8 percent on Wednesday to fresh 4-1/2 year highs. Blue chip miners BHP Billiton Ltd and rival Rio Tinto Ltd both finished the day flat. BHP Billiton said it was committed to a transparent iron ore market, in response to allegations by China that major iron ore miners had manipulated the market to drive an 80 percent jump in prices over the past six months. Gold miners were stronger, with Regis Resources jumping 2.2 percent while Perseus Mining Ltd soared 4.7 percent. Insurers gained with Suncorp climbing 1.9 percent and Insurance Australia Group rallying 1.4 percent. Financials were mixed with Westpac Banking Corp dropping 1.2 percent after reaching all-time highs on Wednesday. Australia New Zealand Banking Group lost 0.8 percent. National Australia Bank notched up 0.8 percent and top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia was up 0.5 percent. Australia's economy grew 0.6 percent in the quarter as a long-awaited surge in resource exports helped offset softness elsewhere, according to official data. The Dow Jones industrial average hit another record closing high of 14,296.2 with stocks bolstered by improved labour market data. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index closed the session 0.8 percent or 35.5 points lower to 4,333.5. (Reporting by Thuy Ong; Editing by Eric Meijer) Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News 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.

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