Monday, March 14, 2011

Australia shares fall sharply as Japan quake weighs

SYDNEY, March 14: Australian shares fell 1.6 percent in early trade on Monday -- its fourth straight loss -- as a massive earthquake in Japan, the country's second-largest export destination, triggered concerns over dropping demand for resources.

The benchmark index also breached the 200-day moving average of 4,625 indicating more weakness. The next technical support is at 4,550-4,560 points, lows last seen in November 2010.

Shares of Australia's top uranium miners -- some of the world's biggest -- fell sharply after several incidents at Japanese nuclear power generators over the weekend raised concerns about future of nuclear power and demand for nuclear fuel.

Shares of Energy Resources of Australia , a unit of Rio Tinto'' fell 9.5 percent in early trade while shares of Paladin were down 12 percent as Japan battled to prevent a nuclear catastrophe after a massive earthquake damaged nuclear generators.

The benchmark, which lost 4.5 percent last week on mounting concerns over the health of the global economy, was down 71.93 points at 4,572.90 points in early trade. It has fallen 4.9 percent since March 8.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index fell 0.6 percent in early trade. - Reuters

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