* Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) hits near six-month high on strong Q2 shipments
* Australian mining sub-index set for best week since late May
* NZ June manufacturing moves to expansionary territory - survey
By Arundhati Dutta
July 17 (Reuters) - Australian shares eased on Friday as a rise in the country's jobless rate and surging coronavirus cases in Victoria weighed on sentiment, while Rio Tinto RIO.AX scaled a near six-month high after reporting strong quarterly iron ore shipments.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO slipped 0.1% to 6,003.6 by 0111 GMT, but was set to post a weekly gain of 1.5%.
Australia's jobless rate hit a 22-year high of 7.4% even though employment surged by a record last month, as the jump in jobs growth was not enough to offset the increase in the number of people who went looking for work. on investor sentiment further, 327 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Thursday, a surge that was almost entirely due to the state of Victoria. sectors, the metals and mining sub-index .AXMM gained up to 1%, and was on track for its best week since the week ended May 22.
Rio Tinto RIO.AX , the world's largest iron ore miner, climbed 2.4% to its highest since January after its second-quarter iron ore shipments beat consensus estimates. gold sub index .AXGD slid 0.8% and was set to snap three straight weekly gains. The top loser was De Grey Mining Ltd DEG.AX , down 4.4%, while Alacer Gold Corp AQG.AX lost 3.8%.
The number of issues on the ASX that advanced were 556 while 437 declined as a 1.3-to-1 ratio favoured advancers. The most heavily traded shares by volume were Alumina AWC.AX , Fortescue Metals Group FMG.AX and South32 S32.AX .
Across the Tasman Sea in New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 recovered from early losses to trade 0.7% higher by 1258 GMT.
A survey showed manufacturing activity moved back to expansionary territory in June after three months of contraction. giant Fonterra FCG.NZ raised the lower end of its farmgate milk price guidance range as demand increased in China, its top market. = 1.4325 Australian dollars)