Monday February 23, 02:18 AM
Australia shares fall 1.3 pct; resources stumble
SYDNEY, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Australian stocks fell 1.3 percent
on Monday, weighed down by weaker resources firms after a drop in
oil and metals prices at the end of last week and as financials
continued to struggle.
A Wall Street Journal report that the U.S. government may
acquire up to 40 percent of Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) 's common stock helped
some of the top banks recover from earlier weakness.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index stood 45.7 points
lower at 3,356.7 at 0151 GMT.
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index fell 1.2 percent
to 2,544.7.
STOCKS ON THE MOVE
* Shares in fund manager Perpetual fell 6.2 percent
to A$22.97 and peer AMP declined 2.7 percent to A$4.72.
Perpetual went ex dividend on Monday, though fund management
company shares fell broadly as investors worried about their
income stream in declining financial markets, analysts said. As
share indices fall, so does the pool of capital managed by fund
and also their fees.
0149 GMT
* Rio Tinto Ltd (Munich: 855018 - news) fell 4.7 percent to A$47.93
and global miner BHP Billiton Ltd was down 3.9
percent to A$29.32 after a fall in base metals prices on Friday.
BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT.L - news) was also trading without the rights to its dividend.
0011 GMT
* Banking shares fell, led by No.4 Australia and New Zealand
Banking Group, which was down 2.3 percent at A$12.16.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Munich: 882695 - news) fell 1.6 percent to
A$29.10. Bank and insurer Suncorp-Metway Ltd fell 6.4
percent to A$4.97 and investment bank Macquarie Group
fell 5 percent to A$19.57, an over six-year low.
0010 GMT
* Shares in oil and gas companies were down after a fall in
oil prices at the end of last week. Roc Oil Company,
fell 11.3 percent to A$0.32. Woodside Petroleum Ltd (Berlin: WOPA.BE - news)
dropped 1.7 percent to A$32.8 and Santos Ltd fell 1.9
percent to A$14.28.
0009 GMT
* BlueScope Steel Ltd (Berlin: BH5.BE - news) , Australia's top steelmaker,
dropped 9 percent to A$2.84 after the company said market
conditions would be challenging in fiscal 2009 and the outlook
for the second half was weaker than anticipated. For more see
0005 GMT
* Agribusiness group Futuris Corp Ltd rose 1.8
percent to A$0.29 after the group said it had sold a further
14.99 percent stake in Australian Agricultural Co Ltd
for A$67.4 million ($43.5 million).
0005 GMT
(Reporting by Mette Fraende)
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