MELBOURNE/WELLINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Australian and New Zealand shares were steady by midday on Friday, as banks came off their lows, offsetting pressure on mining stocks after iron ore prices sank, and as top grocer Woolworths recouped hefty early losses to shore up the market.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO picked up half a point to 4,881.70 by 0144 GMT. However after two torrid days earlier in the week the benchmark was on its way to posting weekly losses in excess of 1 percent.
"We've seen quite a lot of volatility during the session," said Angus Nicholson, an analyst at broker IG Markets.
The market swung around all day with the banks, which were pummelled earlier in the week. Nicholson said yield-focused investors should be attracted to the fat 10 percent yield on the banks at current prices, which should shore up the sector.
"Going forward we could start to see steady buying in the banks with that impressive yield in such a low-yield global environment," he said.
The big four banks were all up by at least 0.3 percent, with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group ANZ.AX leading the way, up 0.9 percent.
Woolworths Ltd WOW.AX dropped as much as 6.4 percent to a near 10-year low after its first-half profit before one-offs fell by a third and it warned that supermarket sales would not improve much in the second half. However the stock bounced back to trade up 3.6 percent. miners BHP Billiton (L:BLT) BHP.AX and Rio Tinto (L:RIO) RIO.AX both fell after iron ore and copper prices dropped, with BHP down 2.5 percent and Rio down 3 percent. Fortescue Metals Group FMG.AX fell nearly 5 percent.
Energy stocks received no boost from reports that major oil producers plan to meet to discuss freezing output to curb oversupply, with Woodside Petroleum WPL.AX sliding 2.2 percent and Santos down 0.9 percent.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 2.4 points to 6,227.64. The index was poised for its second week of gains, and at the current level was up about 1.25 percent on the week.
Sky TV SKT.NZ led losses, falling 2.0 percent after announcing its half-year net profit was down 5.8 percent. New Zealand AIR.NZ lost 1.8 percent and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare FPH.NZ fell 1.7 percent.
Orion Health Group OHE.NZ was the biggest gainer, soaring 11.7 percent after announcing it signed an agreement with IT services provider Cognizant Group CTSH.O . more individual stocks activity click on STXBZ