Australian Shares Shrug Off U.S. Debt Worries to Close Higher

  By Rhiannon Hoyle 
 

SYDNEY--Australia's share market closed in positive territory and within striking distance of a recent multiyear high on Thursday as it shrugged off jitters about U.S. budget negotiations.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 ended at 5294.5--up 0.4% on its previous close as opportunistic dip-buying emerged after an early fall and Japan's Nikkei gained from a weaker yen. The close was a touch below last week's five-year intraday peak of 5300.1.

Market players were, however, cautious of placing big bets as discussions over the U.S. debt ceiling continue. Other stock markets in the region were mostly lower as a thin economic calendar left investors to take cues from a fifth straight daily decline on Wall Street.

"Investors for the most part have decided to stay on the sidelines which is also indicative of the way the markets have moved over this trading week," CMC Markets trader Betty Lam said.

Mining companies benefited from stronger iron-ore prices and improved sentiment in base-metal markets after upbeat economic data from the U.S.--including solid new-home sales. The stock exchange's materials index closed 0.8% higher. BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto PLC rose 1.0% and 1.6%, respectively. BHP Billiton earlier priced a US$5 billion bond issue which was assigned an A-plus, long-term credit rating by Standard & Poor's.

Whitehaven Coal Ltd. closed 0.5% higher at 2.02 Australian dollars (US$1.89) after it successfully had dismissed an injunction brought by environmentalists seeking to stop construction of its 760 million Australian dollar (US$697 million) Maules Creek mine in New South Wales state.

The local bourse ticked higher after government data showed job vacancies climbed 3.1% in the three months to the end of August. The number of vacancies tends to fall in a worsening economic climate as companies are less inclined to hire as look to lower costs.

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