Australian shares close at record high on resilience ahead of Q4 CPI

Australian shares close at record high on resilience ahead of Q4 CPI

	Published : Tue, 23 Jan 2007 06:39 By : Agencies Print this Story

SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) - Share prices closed at fresh record highs for the second consecutive trading session as investor sentiment turned positive after earlier profit taking, dealers said.

Buying was limited on investor caution ahead of tomorrow's consumer inflation data for the December quarter which is seen as the last key data before the Reserve Bank of Australia's first meeting for 2007 in early February.

Dealers said most sectors remained mixed, including resources stocks, despite base metal prices rising in London trade overnight.

The S&P/ASX 200 gained 8.4 points or 0.15 pct to a record close at 5,735.0, surpassing yesterday's record close of 5,726.6.

The key index closed off a high of 5,738.3 which was below yesterday's fresh intra-day record of 5,739.8. The low for today's session was 5,702.7.

The broader All Ordinaries index added 10.1 points to a fresh record close of 5,714.1, also beating the previous record close of 5,703.9 set on Monday and setting a fresh intra-day record of 5,716.1.

Dealers said pastoral companies ABB Grain and Graincorp rose as recent heavy rains in the country's growing districts are seen as a step towards breaking the record drought.

However, base metals producer Kagara Zinc dropped after cutting its year to June 2007 pretax profit forecast to 175 mln aud from 200 mln previously. The miner said the outlook was a result of a pullback in copper prices and a commissioning delay at a copper treatment facility in Queensland.

US-focused heavy building products group Rinker fell following Mexican cement maker Cemex SA extending its 11.7 bln usd cash offer for the Australian-listed company Rinker Group Ltd to Mar 30. The extension did not include a raise in the offer price of 13.00 usd, or 16.49 aud a share, even though Rinker unanimously rejected the offer as inadequate and opportunistic.

(1 usd = 1.27 aud)

paul.daniel@xfn.com