Group items tagged

SYDNEY, 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

According to a news report Australians are not seeing enough economic benefits from the country's once-in-a-century mining boom. while mining company profits have surged over the past 20 years the share of industry income paid in wages has dropped according to the study commissioned by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. In addition, it says record mining industry profits have outstripped growth in taxes and royalties. http://promotion.blackhawk-mining.com/2013/12/06/cfmeu-report-says-most-australians-have-not-benefited-from-the-mining-boom/