By Robb M. Stewart
MELBOURNE, Australia--Australia's share market was flat
Wednesday as gains by the country's big banks were offset by
weakness in most other sectors.
The S&P/ASX 200 ended up 0.07% at 5973.30, edging toward
6000, a hurdle last reached in mid-January 2008.
"The tone of today's trade [was] very similar to yesterday, with
the market struggling for direction as a lack of significant
economic data gave little incentive for investors to back any large
moves," said Tristan K'Nell, head of trading at Quay Equities in
Sydney.
Shares of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AU), Westpac
Banking Corp. (WBC.AU) and Australia & New Zealand Banking
Group Ltd. (ANZ.AU) each rose 0.8%, while shares of National
Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB.AU) gained 0.9%.
Gold producers also managed gains after the price of the
precious metal in New York climbed for a fifth straight session,
with shares of Newcrest Mining Ltd. (NCM.AU), OceanaGold Corp.
(OGC.AU) and Norton Gold Fields Ltd. (NGF.AU) rising 0.2%, 2% and
2.6%, respectively.
Among other mining companies, shares of BHP Billiton Ltd.
(BHP.AU) fell 0.4%, shares of Rio Tinto Ltd. (RIO.AU) lost 0.9% and
shares of OZ Minerals Ltd. (OZL.AU) gave up some recent gains to
end 2.4% lower.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com