Australia shares trim losses to end slightly lower; NZ up

[BENGALURU] Australian shares trimmed early losses to close marginally lower on Wednesday, helped by gains in health care and industrial stocks, and as some banks climbed back from heavy falls earlier in the session.

The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.1 per cent, or 4.48 points, to 5,709.10 at the close of trade. The benchmark fell 0.1 per cent on Tuesday.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia scrambled back from a 0.8 per cent drop early on to finish slightly higher, while Westpac Banking and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group closed down about 0.6 per cent each.

The benchmark financial index fell as much as 0.9 per cent in the session after ANZ said in a note it sees the Reserve Bank of Australia tightening the cash rate by 50 basis points to two per cent in 2018, reversing the rate cuts of 2016 and taking the real (inflation adjusted) cash rate back to zero.

"Even though raising the cash rate is good for their (banks') margins in the long term, I think there is still a view that it could impact the psyche of the housing market which is so leveraged at the moment," said Chris Weston, an institutional dealer with IG Markets.

Meanwhile, biotherapeutics company CSL took away some of the heat on the benchmark by posting a 2.1 per cent gain, climbing to a two-and-a-half month closing high.

Pallets and container group Brambles ended higher for a third straight session, rising 4.3 per cent to its highest in four weeks.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index ended 0.7 per cent, or 54.71 points higher, to finish the session at 7,819.24, its best close in a week.

Medical device maker Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation was the biggest boost on the index, rising 2.5 per cent, while A2 Milk climbed 1.9 per cent to post a one-week closing high.

REUTERS