SYDNEY/WELLINGTON : Australian shares drifted lower on Friday after a choppy start led by the resources sector following a large drop in iron ore prices, while energy-related shares slipped on crude oil price declines. Volumes were below their 5-day average as investors awaited U.S. non-farm payrolls due later in the day for some direction. The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.4 percent, or 22.6 points to 5,883.2 by 0043 GMT. The benchmark finished flat on Thursday, after hitting its highest level since early 2008 on Monday. The index is up 8.7 percent so far this year, but is on its way to post its worst weekly performance since Jan. 16. ‘I think the real issue is that the market had run up very hard from the lows later in December. So, some sort of correction was looking inevitable,’ said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital.
U.S. stocks closed modestly higher on Thursday as investors held back on big bets ahead of Friday’s jobs report. Regis Resources was the biggest loser on the index on Friday after it said it expected gold production at Moolart Well for the six months to June to be lower than second-half 2014. Major miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were down 2 and 1.6 percent respectively after iron ore fell to a six-year low under $60 a tonne.
Energy companies such as LNG, Beach Energy and Karoon Gas were down 3.4-4.1 percent.
Healthcare was the sole bright spot on the index while consumer staples stocks Woolworths and Coca Cola Amatil were up about 0.5 percent.
New Zealand’s benchmark NZX50 index rose 23.9 points or 3.2 percent to 5,880.63, recovering from a one-week intraday low of 5,840.65 hit on Thursday as investors picked up power companies which had sold off earlier in the week. Power generator and retailer Meridian rose 1.23 percent, recovering from a two-week low hit on Thursday, while Contact Energy rose 1.3 percent, clawing back from a four-month low of NZ$6.00 plumbed the previous day.
Further gains were capped by a 4.8 percent slide in the Warehouse Group after the country’s biggest retailer said it expected full-year profits would come in between NZ$52-NZ$56 million, lower than NZ$60.7 million in the previous year. (AGENCIES)
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