Australia Shares Pull Back on Soft China Data, Gold Miners Jump - 1 views
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Omar Amid on 07 Jan 14SYDNEY, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Australian shares fell 0.7 percent on Friday, with big banks and miners weighing as investors took profits at the index's 6-week highs after seeing signs weakness in Chinese manufacturing data. China's factory activity slowed in December, official and private manufacturing surveys showed, reinforcing views that growth in the world's second-largest economy moderated in the final quarter of 2013. "We saw that Chinese PMI number yesterday was a little bit lower than expected, so expect the material base to trade a bit weaker today," said Simon Twiss, a dealer at Arnhem Investment Management. Top miners BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Ltd fell 1.2 percent and 0.6 percent respectively. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd lost 1.8 percent. The S&P/ASX 200 index lost 34.9 points to 5,333.0 by 0020 GMT. The benchmark rose 0.3 percent on Thursday, touching a six-week high. Related Sites: http://promotion.blackhawk-mining.com/ https://www.facebook.com/BlackHawkMinesBulletin http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Blackhawk-Mines-Corp-wakkyped-4584760