HONG KONG--Australian stocks hit a six-year high early Tuesday,
before slipping into small losses in a morning of mixed trade in
Asia.
In Sydney, the S&P ASX 200 rose as 0.3% to 5554.50 early in
the session after a choppy day of trading in the U.S. ended with
stocks in positive territory. The index was last trading just below
Monday's close, at 5532.40.
Australia was pulled away from its multiyear high by declines in
both miners and banks. Westpac Banking Corp. fell 0.6% and National
Australia Bank lost 0.9% after they were downgraded by Citigroup.
Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton lost 0.9% and 0.5% respectively, after
spot iron-ore fell 2.2%.
The rest of Asia lacked clear direction, with Hong Kong's Hang
Seng Index up 0.1%, South Korea's Kospi flat and Singapore's
Straits Times Index down 0.3%.
With Japan closed for a public holiday, trading was thin across
Asia. The dollar was steady against the yen, at Yen102.49, after
gaining a total of 0.3% on Monday.
More broadly the region was treading water ahead of events such
as the conclusion of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting
Wednesday, which will provide an update on the central bank's
stance on stimulus measures. This will be followed Friday by
nonfarm payrolls, a labor report that provides a health check on
the world's largest economy. In Asia, the main piece of economic
data for the week will be April manufacturing figures for China on
Thursday.
Write to Daniel Inman at daniel.inman@wsj.com
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