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SYDNEY, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Australian shares posted their biggest quarterly loss in four years on Wednesday as a recovery bounce from the previous session's heavy selling failed to make up for months of volatility.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 2.1 percent to close at 5,021.6, its biggest one-day gain since Aug. 25 but insufficient to make up for the previous day's fall of nearly 4 percent.
For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the benchmark was down 8.0 percent, its biggest three-month drop since the September quarter of 2011.
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index .NZ50 closed down 19.1 points or 0.3 percent at 5,593.4. For the quarter, the index fell 2.3 percent, its biggest three-month decline since the June 2012 quarter.