MARKET COMMENT: S&P/ASX 200 Down 0.9%; FOMC Minutes Weigh

0016 GMT [Dow Jones] Australia's S&P/ASX 200 is 0.9% lower at 5052.8 after FOMC minutes raised concerns that the Fed could scale back its quantitative easing sooner than expected, and the S&P 500 subsequently fell 1.2%, its biggest fall in 3 months. "Fed minutes talking about paring back quantitative easing pushed equities down, but if the Fed were to wind that back in an orderly way, it would be a very strong signal of confidence in the economy," says Macquarie Private Wealth investment adviser James Rosenberg. He nonetheless feels global equity markets are due for a further modest decline on technical factors, valuation and buyer fatigue. Resources are weakest, with BHP (BHP.AU), Rio Tinto (RIO.AU) and Fortescue (FMG.AU) down 2.5%-3.2% after offshore peers fell sharply and Caterpillar (CAT) reported weaker sales. Woodside (WPL.AU) falls 2.3% following downgrades from Citi, Macquarie and Morgan Stanley. Origin (ORG.AU) drops 7.5% on a lower-than-expected first-half profit, full-year earnings downgrade, an LNG project cost blowout and subsequent credit rating downgrade from S&P. AMP (AMP.AU), Qantas (QAN.AU) and IAG (IAG.AU) gain 1%-4.6% on stronger-than-expected earnings. ([e-mail])

 
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