Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares seen down after Fed comments, eyes on China PMI

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Australia shares seen down after Fed comments, eyes on China PMI Jun 19th 2013, 23:19 Tweet Share this Email Print Wed Jun 19, 2013 7:19pm EDT SYDNEY, June 20 (Reuters) - Australian shares are expected to drop on Thursday, following Wall Street's lead after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. central bank could begin to scale back its stimulus measures later this year. Investors will also focus on the China HSBC flash PMI for June, due at 0145 GMT, for signals on momentum in Asia's biggest economy after its factory activity shrank for the first time in seven months in May as new orders fell. * Local share price index futures dropped 1.1 percent to 4,820.0, a 41.4-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close. On Tuesday, the benchmark rose 1 percent to close at a two-week high. * New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index fell 0.7 percent to 4,416.1 in early trade. * U.S. stocks fell more than 1 percent on Wednesday after Bernanke said the U.S. economy was expanding strongly enough for the Federal Reserve to start to reducing its stimulus measures later this year. * Copper slid to its lowest in over six weeks, the third straight day of losses, and gold fell to a one-month low. * The Australian dollar dived to a three-year low as commodity-linked and emerging currencies were hammered by a U.S. dollar that strengthened across the board after Bernanke's comments. A weaker currency may benefit stocks with overseas exposure, such as QBE Insurance Group Ltd and Treasury Wine Estates Ltd. * Spot iron-ore prices jumped for a fourth day to a three-week high as traders increased buying, although weak restocking by Chinese steelmakers and tepid steel consumption are expected to cap the rally for the raw material. * Rio Tinto is cutting more than 40 office jobs in its Australian iron ore division as it chases greater cost savings to combat a weaker market. * Nathan Tinkler has handed his stake in Whitehaven Coal Ltd to lenders to pay off most of a $634 million debt, in a deal that may eventually put one of the country's biggest independent coal miners into play. ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2220 GMT ------------ INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 1628.93 -1.39% -22.880 USD/JPY 96.44 -0.02% -0.020 10-YR US TSY YLD 2.3545 -- 0.000 SPOT GOLD 1349.21 -0.11% -1.480 US CRUDE 97.9 -0.35% -0.340 DOW JONES 15112.19 -1.35% -206.04 ASIA ADRS 134.37 -1.61% -2.19 ------------------------------------------------------------- * Wall St drops after Bernanke hints at slowing stimulus * Oil pressured by Bernanke comments, crude stocks up * Gold hits 1-month low on Bernanke comments * Copper slips to 6-week ahead of Fed statement For a digest of the day's business stories in Australian newspapers, double click on (Reporting by Maggie Lu Yueyang; Editing by John Mair) 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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