Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares flat as high-yield selling balances Wall St gains

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Australia shares flat as high-yield selling balances Wall St gains May 29th 2013, 01:56 Tue May 28, 2013 9:56pm EDT (Adds details, comments, stocks on the move) SYDNEY May 29 (Reuters) - Australian shares traded flat on Wednesday as a boost in investor sentiment from Wall Street was counterweighted by a sell-off in high-yielding stocks as the Australian dollar fell to near one-year lows of $0.9603 and robust U.S. economic data reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve may start unwinding its stimulus program soon. "The falling Australian dollar is leading offshore investors to offload some of those local assets, that's leading to price declines. They're trying to avoid getting negative real returns as the Australian dollar continues to weaken," said Tim Radford, global analyst at stockbroker Rivkin. "We've seen a big sell-off in high-yielding stocks coincide with the big drop-off in the Australian dollar." Flagship telecommunications company Telstra Ltd fell 0.6 percent. The stock currently yields at 5.7 percent. High-yielding financials were also moderately weaker. National Australia Bank fell 0.8 percent and top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia slipped 0.5 percent. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group fell 0.2 percent, although it had announced a $425 million on-market buyback of its ordinary shares. The S&P/ASX 200 index slipped 2.4 points to 4,968.3 by 0132 GMT. The market lost 3.8 percent last week after grappling recently with slowing growth in China, suggestions the U.S. may roll back its stimulus this year and turbulence in Japanese equities. However, the benchmark rose 0.2 percent on Tuesday, snapping a five-day losing streak and managing to claw back modest gains. Defensives were mixed. Biotechnology company CSL Ltd climbed 2.2 percent while insurance firm QBE Insurance Ltd jumped 3.6 percent. Consumer staples, which also have high yields, fell with Woolworths Ltd and Wesfarmers Ltd losing 0.6 percent and 2.2 percent respectively. Meanwhile, global iron ore miner BHP Billiton Ltd added 0.7 percent while Rio Tinto Ltd rallied 2 percent. BHP Billiton, the world's biggest coking coal exporter, said it expects the market to be "comfortably supplied" in the near term, with supply swings determined by U.S. mines and demand swings dominated by China. U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday, with the Dow closing at yet another record high after central banks reassured investors that they will retain policies designed to foster global growth. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index added 0.4 percent 18.8 points to 4,497. STOCKS ON THE MOVE * Aristocrat Leisure Ltd soared 5.9 percent to A$4.29 after saying its new dividend policy will introduce an increased target payout ratio of 60 percent to 80 percent of normalised net profit after tax (npat). (0122 GMT) * Lachlan Star Limited rocketed 21.9 percent to A$0.195 after the gold miner said it expects record gold production in May. (0122 GMT) * Ivanhoe Australia jumped 7.1 percent to A$0.105 after announcing board changes. (0123 GMT) (Reporting by Thuy Ong; Editing by) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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