Australian shares closed lower for a second day on Tuesday with energy firms and iron ore miners pressured by weak commodity prices.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.3 per cent or 18 points, to 5,404.7, taking the losses since Monday to 1.1 per cent.
Mount Gibson Iron and Atlas Iron both tumbled 11 per cent. Oil explorers and producers were also hit hard with Horizon Oil ending 7.1 per cent lower.
In contrast, investors snapped up gold miners such as Evolution Mining as safe-haven demand drove spot gold to a 12-week high. Evolution Mining shares jumped nearly 9 per cent.
New Zealand’s benchmark NZX 50 index rose 0.5 per cent or 26.80 points to a record-closing high of 5,636.61.
More Like This
Published on January 13, 2015
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.