Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares fall, market volatility hits investor confidence

Reuters: Hot Stocks Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Australia shares fall, market volatility hits investor confidence May 24th 2013, 01:45 Thu May 23, 2013 9:45pm EDT (Adds details, comments, stocks on the move) SYDNEY May 24 (Reuters) - Australian shares reversed early gains to fall 0.9 percent as faltering banks and market volatility hit investor sentiment on Friday, sending the benchmark index tumbling further from one-month lows touched a day earlier. "There's also a lot of volatility from a macro perspective from Japan, which is jumping around 20 or 30 points at a time, which is not good for market stability or confidence," said Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG. Japan's Nikkei share average regained ground on Friday after a 7.3 percent dive in the previous session, its biggest one-day percentage drop in two years after weak Chinese factory data spooked investors. The S&P/ASX 200 index lost 44.1 points to 5,018.4 by 0135 GMT, extending a 2 percent drop on Thursday. Roughly 327.6 million shares had traded hands in thin trade. Financials dragged as Westpac Banking Corp dropped 1.3 percent and top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia slipped 0.2 percent. Australia's fourth largest bank Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd bucked the trend, edging 0.2 percent higher. "I think everyone is looking at more rebalancing portfolios, after having a lot of banks because of their recent gains. As they start to come off you start to see them hit other stocks on the way down," Shamu said. The S&P/ASX200 index was trading well below the region. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was trading flat. Australian casino company Crown Ltd said on Friday it has completed the sale of its 10 percent stake in rival Echo Entertainment Group Ltd, the operator of Sydney's sole casino, in a block trade to institutional investors. Crown fell 0.7 percent while rival Echo plummeted 10.2 percent to all-time lows of A$3.09. Miners were also weaker. BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Ltd fell 0.7 percent and 0.5 percent respectively. Still, gold miners helped mitigate broader losses after investors sought a safe haven as the dollar and equity markets were hit by weak manufacturing data that indicated stagnant global growth. Newcrest Mining Ltd and Regis Resources Ltd jumped 3.2 percent and 3.3 percent respectively. Underground gold miner Kingsrose Mining Ltd surged 12.8 percent. The flash HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for China fell to 49.6 for May, slipping under the 50-point level demarcating expansion from contraction for the first time since October. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index slipped 0.5 percent or 24.6 points to 4,564. STOCKS ON THE MOVE * Intrepid Mines Ltd jumped 2.5 percent to A$0.29 after the company announced it "did not believe that best interests of shareholders will be served by quantum pacific taking control of the company at this time." (0134 GMT) * Cobar Consolidated Resources Ltd climbed 4 percent to A$0.13 after the company appointed Paul Bibby as acting CEO. (0134 GMT) * Pharmaxis Ltd rocketed 25 percent to A$0.225. The pharmaceutical company announced it had appointed PharmaSwiss SA as distributor for its Bronchitol drug in Poland and ten other Eastern European countries earlier this week. (0134 GMT) (Reporting by Thuy Ong; Editing by Daniel Magnowski) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions