By Michael Kitchen
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Australian stocks edged higher early Wednesday in light pre-holiday trading, with financials bid broadly higher on continued economic optimism but with gold producers lower, tracking losses in gold futures overnight. In the early minutes of trading, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was 0.3% higher at 4,858.90, with National Australia Bank Ltd. (AU:NAB 27.20, +0.02, +0.07%) (NAUBF 23.55, -23.55, -50.00%) up 0.5%, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (AU:ANZ 22.74, +0.04, +0.18%) (ANEWF 18.90, -0.90, -4.55%) rising 0.9%, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (AU:CBA 54.42, -0.08, -0.15%) (CBAUF 49.45, +3.25, +7.04%) gaining 0.6%. Lihir Gold Ltd. (AU:LGL 3.25, -0.02, -0.61%) (LIHRF 2.88, +0.05, +1.77%) fell 1.2%, but rival Newcrest Mining Ltd. (AU:NCM 34.96, -0.32, -0.91%) (NCMGF 31.20, -0.25, -0.80%) was down a more modest 0.2%. |
