Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australian shares finish flat ahead of US payrolls; banks retreat

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

Australian shares finish flat ahead of US payrolls; banks retreat May 3rd 2013, 07:09 Fri May 3, 2013 3:09am EDT (Adds details, comments) SYDNEY May 3 (Reuters) - Australian shares finished the session largely flat on Friday as investors turned cautious ahead of a key U.S. jobs report while booking profits in financial stocks. Sentiment was also affected by data from China showing recovery in Australia's largest export market remains modest. Westpac Banking Corp, Australia's third-largest lender, led the decline, finishing 1 percent lower after hitting record highs earlier in the session. The bank reported a forecast-beating 10 percent rise in first-half profit. "I think with some investors were thinking [the Westpac results] weren't that good structurally," said Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG. "Some people think it's not sustainable and going forward, can Westpac maintain such good dividend growth and such good yield?" The S&P/ASX 200 index slipped 0.5 points to finish at 5,129.5. The benchmark fell 0.6 percent for the week. Expansion in China's services sector slowed in April, an official survey showed on Friday, in line with slower factory activity and reinforcing views that recovery in the world's second-largest economy remains modest. "In the short term we are at risk of a pullback in the couple of months ahead," said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors. "That's likely because there are some signs of softer growth globally, but I think investors who have missed out over the last two years will buy into the dips." Top lender the Commonwealth Bank of Australia lost 2 percent while National Australia Bank slipped 0.3 percent after both rose to record highs early in the session. Macquarie Group Ltd, however, soared 10.9 percent to a 3-year high of A$43.11 after Australia's top investment bank beat forecasts with a 17 percent rise in full-year profit as cost cutting and strength in its annuity-style businesses outweighed lingering weakness in capital markets. Australian and New Zealand Banking Group advanced 0.3 percent ahead of the stock going ex-dividend next week. MINERS STRONGER Global miners finished the session stronger as investors bought beaten down stocks. BHP Billiton Ltd added 0.6 percent while Iluka Resources Ltd climbed 4.2 percent. Rio Tinto Ltd jumped 1.1 percent. Elsewhere defensives were moderately firmer. Biotechnology firm CSL Ltd soared 1.6 percent while medical diagnostics company Sonic Health 1.8 percent. Australia's Q1 Producer Price Index (PPI) released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics rose 0.3 percent quarter on quarter, a Reuters poll forecast a rise of 0.2 percent. U.S. stocks closed about 1 percent higher on Thursday, led by tech shares, after weekly jobless claims figures pointed to improving labor market condition a day before the closely watched monthly payroll report. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index lost 0.7 percent or 30.1 points to 4,544.3. (Reporting by Thuy Ong; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani) 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