Australia: Shares end lower; Sydney Airport gains on buyout approval
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[BENGALURU] Australian stocks snapped a 4-day winning streak on Thursday (Dec 9), dragged down by declines in technology and energy shares, while Sydney Airport gained following regulatory approval for its buyout and helped cap losses.
The S&P/ASX 200 index settled 0.3 per cent lower at 7,384.5.
The index gained 1.3 per cent on Wednesday (Dec 8), its best session since Oct 4.
Energy stocks fell 1.1 per cent after recording 4 consecutive session of gains, even as oil prices extended a rally on confidence that the Omicron coronavirus variant would not dent global growth.
Beach Energy fell 4 per cent to post its worst session since Nov 26, while Santos dropped 1.6 per cent.
Shares of Sydney Airport Holdings closed 2.9 per cent higher to scale a 23-months high after the country's competition regulator approved its A$23.6 billion (S$23 billion) takeover.
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Separately, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that payroll jobs in the fortnight to Nov 13 rose 0.2 per cent, following a 1.5 per cent rise in the 2 weeks before.
"The labour market seems to have taken a breather following a rapid recovery in the second half of October due to the lockdown-exit effect," said Kunal Sawhney, CEO of Kalkine Group.
Technology stocks dropped 0.9 per cent, after gaining over 4 per cent in the last 2 sessions. Software firm Xero and electronics solutions developer Codan fell 3.2 per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively.
Buy now, pay later firm Zip Co ended 4.2 per cent lower after Citi research cut the stock's price target on slowing growth in the United States.
Miners fell 0.4 per cent, tracking an overnight downturn in Chinese stainless steel futures. Rio Tinto fell 0.9 per cent, while BHP Group dropped 1.2 per cent.
Meanwhile, market participants around the world waited for US inflation data on Friday (Dec 10), seen as a prelude to the Federal Reserve's meeting next week.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index closed 0.8 per cent lower at 12,771.83.
REUTERS
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