Australia Shares Midday: BHP, Telstra Up In Flat Market

The Australian share market was flat Thursday with the market leveling out after a strong two-week run.

"It's the end of the week after a very solid week," said Anthony Anderson, senior trader at MF Global. "People are taking a little bit of risk off the table heading into the weekend. BHP is really the highlight of the market, that's really where all the strength is."

BHP Billiton was up 2.0% to A$46.56. The overall S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.1% to 4827 as of 0213 GMT.

BHP Billiton shares were rallying while Woodside Petroleum's stock was retreating. Woodside was down 2.4% to A$46.59. Woodside said late Wednesday that it won't comment on rumors about a potential takeover of the company's shares, adding that was presumably the reason its shares were rallying this week.

Anderson said BHP's strength could be attributed to speculation that a deal with Woodside is "perhaps not really as imminent as people were thinking earlier in the week".

To compare, Rio Tinto was up 0.5%.

The other stand-out stock Thursday was Telstra, up 1.4%, continuing its run after the Australian parliament agreed on legislation setting out regulatory framework for the National Broadband Network this week. Anderson also said a Dow Jones report that Telstra is eyeing acquisitions in China's new media space was boosting the stock.

Rare earths miner Lynas Corp. was up 5% to A$2.29 after the group completed a A$55 million raising.

Traders weren't expecting much from the market for the rest of the session.

"I think it will finish on the slightly positive side... without any great fanfare," Jeremy Hook, private client adviser at TMS Capital said.

The banks were lower, Commonwealth Bank lost 0.7%, Westpac was down 0.3%, National Australia Bank shed 0.2% and ANZ retreated 0.7%.

Australian retail sales data rose a higher-than-expected 0.5% to a seasonally adjusted A$20.53 billion in February, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Thursday. Economists surveyed ahead of the announcement on average had expected a rise of 0.4%. Household goods retailing rose 2.0%, while sales of clothing and footwear rose 0.9% in February.

Retailers were mixed. Harvey Norman was up 0.7%; Myer Holdings was up 0.3% and David Jones was down 0.2%. Conglomerate and retailer Wesfarmers was down 2% while retail giant Woolworths was down 0.1%.

 
   -By Cynthia Koons; Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]