Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares close at a 2-week high, Whitehaven jumps

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Australia shares close at a 2-week high, Whitehaven jumps Jun 19th 2013, 07:16 Wed Jun 19, 2013 3:16am EDT (Adds details, comments) SYDNEY, June 19 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose 1 percent to close at a two-week high on Wednesday, helped by expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will not move quickly to scale back its monetary stimulus and as a weaker Australian dollar lifted stocks with large exposure to overseas markets. Whitehaven Coal Ltd surged 4 percent after embattled tycoon Nathan Tinkler has handed his stake in to lenders to pay off debt, in a deal that may eventually put one of the country's biggest independent coal miners into play. But News Corp tumbled 6.9 percent to a 2-1/2-month low as investors factored in its demerger. The S&P/ASX 200 index finished 47.1 points higher at 4,861.4 in subdued trade with some 633 million shares changing hands. "Traders have been positioning for a QE-friendly stance from Bernanke," said Tim Waterer, senior trader at CMC Markets. "While the ASX200 undoubtedly enjoyed a productive session, if Bernanke does not tell the market what it wants to hear this evening, then today's gains could quite easily be reversed." The Fed meeting started on Tuesday, and traders are trying to guess its timeline for scaling back bond purchases of $85 billion per month. A policy statement from the central bank will be released at 1800 GMT on Wednesday, followed by a news conference with Chairman Ben Bernanke. Weakness in the Australian dollar benefited stocks with large overseas exposure. Insurance company QBE Insurance Group Ltd jumped 2.9 percent and Treasury Wine Estates soared 3.4 percent. Against the dollar, the Aussie was flat at $0.9488, but it remained vulnerable to another test of a 33-month trough of $0.9325 plumbed on June 11. BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Ltd climbed 0.9 percent and 1.6 percent respectively, bouncing back from a recent sell-off. McPherson's Ltd plunged 21.3 percent to four year lows of A$1.44 after the homewares marketer cut its profit guidance. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index slipped 0.4 percent or 16.6 points to finish the session at 4,445.6. (Reporting by Thuy Ong; Editing by Edwina Gibbs) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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