MW: Australian shares slip as miners give back gains
By MarketWatch
TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Australian shares slipped in early trading Tuesday, tracking a drop on Wall Street amid continuted domestic political uncertainy after the weekend's inconclusive general election. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.7% at 4399.2, with mining shares giving back some of the previous session's gains. BHP Billiton Ltd.'s (AU:BHP 37.54, -0.57, -1.50%) (BHP 67.13, -0.31, -0.46%) shares fell 1.6%, shares of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (AU:FMG 4.50, -0.14, -3.02%) (FSUMF 4.09, +0.04, +0.99%) gave up 1.7%, and Rio Tinto Ltd. (AU:RIO 71.07, -1.13, -1.57%) (RTP 50.84, -0.21, -0.41%) saw its shares shed 0.9%. Shares of Macarthur Coal Ltd. (AU:MCC 12.36, 0.00, 0.00%) (MACDF 10.75, -0.70, -6.11%) were halted at the miner's request, pending an announcement related to an acquisition and capital raising. Macarthur is also scheduled to release full-year results later Tuesday. Shares of Foster's Group Ltd. (AU:FGL 5.99, -0.27, -4.31%) (FBRWF 5.61, +0.43, +8.30%) were down 2.9% after Australia's largest brewer said it swung to a fiscal-year loss, and with no new developments on takeover talk that boosted the issue on Monday. Shares of Sonic Healthcare Ltd. (AU:SHL 10.80, +0.37, +3.55%) slipped 0.8% after Australia's largest pathology operator reported a 71% rise in fiscal full-year net profit, in line with expectations, but also cited difficulties posed by government regulation changes and funding cutbacks.
