Australia Shares Little Changed After Last Week's Jump

   By Robb M. Stewart 
 

MELBOURNE, Australia--Australian equities were off to a flat start to the week, ending Monday little changed as the market took a breather after last week's gains.

With the closure of U.S. markets Friday for the Fourth of July holiday offering no impetus for local trading, the focus of investors was on local mergers and acquisitions after Wotif.com Holdings embraced a bid from Expedia and Aristocrat Leisure bid for a U.S. slot-machine maker.

The S&P/ASX 200 ended the day down 6.1 points, or 0.1%, at 5518.9 as healthcare, industrial and mining stocks led the decline.

The benchmark index may, after rising 1.5% last week, run up against resistance levels with April's high at 55554.5 an important level in the near term, said Stan Shamu, a market strategist at IG.

Although BHP Billiton managed to gain 0.3%, fellow miner Rio Tinto fell 0.5% and Fortescue Metals Group dropped 2.8% after U.K.-traded commodities prices ended last week lower. Gold producer Newcrest Mining lost 1.3%.

Australia & New Zealand Banking managed to rise 0.3%, but declines in Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and Macquarie helped leave the financials sector slightly down for the day.

Wotif rallied 25% on the back of Expedia's A$703.1 million (US$657.2 million) takeover offer, which has been accepted by the Australian company's board.

Trading in Aristocrat was halted as the company unveiled a US$1.28 billion offer for privately-owned Video Gaming Technologies and it said it would issue A$375 million in new shares via an institutional placement.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at [e-mail]