MELBOURNE, June 14: Australian shares fell 0.9 percent on Thursday as investors rein in risk on fears Spain’s financing problems may spread to Italy and ahead of critical Greek elections, with weak economic data in the United States also weighing..
Top miners and banks fell, as did companies reliant on sales in Europe and the United States.
‘I would expect low volume in today’s session with risk aversion dominating the mind-set of investors leading up to the Greek election on Sunday,’ said Miguel Audencial, trader at CMC Markets.
Greece’s leftist SYRIZA party has been running neck-and-neck with conservative New Democracy ahead of the second national election in six weeks. SYRIZA policies could force the country out of the euro..
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 37 points at 4,027.1 by 0133 GMT, its weakest since June 5, when it briefly traded below 4,000. It lost 0.2 percent on Wednesday.
New Zealand’s benchmark NZX 50 index rose 0.6 percent to 3,402.1 points. The central bank held its benchmark cash rate steady at 2.5 percent for a tenth consecutive review on Thursday.
STOCKS ON THE MOVE:
Perpetual rallied as much as 10 percent on Thursday after the Australian Financial Review said at least one private equity firm was ‘readying to make a play for Perpetual.’ .
The stock was later up 7 percent at A$23.25.
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James Hardie, a manufacturer of fibre cement products which earns two-thirds of its revenue in the United States and Europe, fell 2.6 percent to A$7.53 after demand for U.S. Building materials sagged and U.S. Retail sales fell 0.2 percent in May.
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BHP Billiton fell 1 percent while Rio Tinto sank 0.9 percent. Top banks were all lower, led by a fall of 1.2 percent in ANZ Banking Group.
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Echo Entertainment Group remained on halt ahead of details of its A$450 million capital raising, with the casino operator tipped to announce an accelerated entitlement offer at A$3.40 a share, according to media reports, a 24 percent discount to the last price of A$4.49.
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(agencies)
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