Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares fall on Fed stimulus fears, miners weigh

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Australia shares fall on Fed stimulus fears, miners weigh Jun 17th 2013, 01:36 Sun Jun 16, 2013 9:36pm EDT (Adds details, comments, stocks on the move) SYDNEY, June 17 (Reuters) - Australian shares fell 0.7 percent on Monday as Wall Street fell and blue-chip miners weighed on the local bourse as investors continued to fret over whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will maintain its quantitative easing programme. Global miners BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Ltd dropped 2 percent and 2.1 percent respectively. BHP Billiton fell in line with the mining sector despite receiving approval to build a $400 million gas-fired power plant in northern Chile, a local media report said on Saturday. Shanghai steel rebar futures slipped to a nine-month low on Friday amid concerns about tepid demand in top consumer China, while output cuts by steel mills are expected to weigh on iron ore. The S&P/ASX 200 index lost 31.7 points to 4,760.1 by 0123 GMT. The benchmark rebounded 2.1 percent on Friday, its biggest one-day gain in 18 months. "I think we had bargain hunters jumping in on Friday that pushed the market higher, the market is selling off the back of that too," said Steven Daghlian, market analyst at Commonwealth Securities. Financials were also trading mostly lower, with top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia slipping 0.2 percent and Westpac Banking Corp losing 0.8 percent. Aside from last Friday's rebound, the local index has seen a heavy selloff in sympathy with a rout in global markets over recent sessions, driven by fears the U.S. Federal Reserve could wind back its stimulus measures this year, slower growth in China, and volatility in Japanese equities. The Australian market underperformed the rest of the region on Monday, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipping 0.3 percent. "There's not been a big change in momentum, we're still seeing a bit of a downtrend taking place," said Daghlian. "Since the beginning of May the market has essentially fallen about 9 percent, so that is continuing." Gold miners were trading weaker after Australia's gold output fell 5 percent in the first quarter on weather-related disruption, according to a consultant. Australia's top gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd and Regis Resources Ltd both dropped 2.2 percent. U.S. stocks fell on Friday in low volume to end their third negative week in four, as investors weigh up whether the world's central banks will soon start to unwind their stimulus measures. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index slipped 0.1 percent or 3.9 points to 4,417.1. STOCKS ON THE MOVE * Lend Lease Corporation Ltd tumbled 8.1 percent to A$8.59, its lowest point since December 2012 after the property group said it was going to restructure its Australian construction and infrastructure businesses. (0121 GMT) (Reporting by Thuy Ong; Editing by Eric Meijer) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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