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Australian shares slip on real estate stocks; NZ falls

Published 30/12/2019, 05:01 pm
Updated 30/12/2019, 05:07 pm
© Reuters.  Australian shares slip on real estate stocks; NZ falls

© Reuters. Australian shares slip on real estate stocks; NZ falls

(Updates to close)

Dec 30 (Reuters) - Australian shares slipped on Monday, tracking a weak Wall Street finish, and as a number of top real estate and industrial firms traded ex-dividend to weigh on the benchmark index.

On the second last trading day of the year, the S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO fell 0.3% to 6,804.9 at the close of trade. The benchmark had dropped 0.4% on Friday.

Shares of high-profile property firms such as Mirvac Group MGR.AX , Dexus DXS.AX and Stockland Corp Ltd SGP.AX lost between 0.9% to 2.7% on trading ex-dividend.

Sydney Airport Holdings SYD.AX slumped 4.3% and toll road operator Transurban Group TCL.AX declined 2.6%.

Investor sentiment was also dented by concerns over the year-end pressure on repo market in the United States after a scare in September which saw repo rates shoot up to as much as 10%, more than four times the Fed's rate.

On Friday, the Nasdaq .IXIC ended 0.2% lower, snapping a 11-day winning streak, while the S&P 500 closed flat. .N

In Australia, financial stocks .AXFJ , which account for about a third of the benchmark, trimmed most of their losses to close largely flat.

A 0.4% dip in the heavyweight metals and mining index .AXMM also dragged the main index. Global miners BHP Group Ltd BHP.AX and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) Ltd RIO.AX shed 0.6% and 0.9%, respectively.

Defying the trend, gold stocks .AXGD edged up 0.7%, benefiting from bullion prices hitting a two-month peak on a weaker U.S. dollar. GOL/

Gold Road Resources Ltd GOR.AX jumped 3.6%, while Westgold Resources Ltd WGX.AX added 2.8% by the end of the session.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 dropped 0.4% or 45.67 points to finish the day at 11,556.45.

Electricity retailer Meridian Energy Ltd MEL.NZ and real-estate firm Argosy Property Ltd ARG.NZ were the top losers on the bourse, falling 3.1% and 2.8%, respectively.

Retirement village operator Metlifecare Ltd MET.NZ rose as much as 7.1% to its highest since Nov. 2007 after it agreed to be acquired by Asia Pacific Village Group (APVG), an entity of Swedish buyout firm EQT AB.

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