Jan 30 (Reuters) - Australian shares inched lower on
Monday, with heavyweight miners leading the fall, while insurers
also dropped after saying they had received thousands of claims
from flood-hit customers in New Zealand.
The S&P/ASX 200 index slipped 0.1% to 7,484.8 by
00:50 GMT, with investors globally awaiting a U.S. Federal
Reserve meeting due later in the week for clues on further
interest rate hikes.
U.S. consumer spending fell for a second straight month in
December, putting the economy on a lower growth path heading
into 2023, while inflation continued to subside, which could
give the Fed room to further slow the pace of its rate hikes
this week.
In Australia, miners fell 0.8%, with behemoths BHP
Group and Rio Tinto down 0.7% and 1.6%,
respectively.
Rio Tinto's iron ore division chief, Simon Trott, apologised
after a contractor hired by the mining giant lost a radioactive
capsule in transit in Western Australia, which sparked a
radiation alert across parts of the state.
Financials inched lower 0.3%, with Commonwealth Bank
of Australia , National Australia Bank and
Westpac trading in negative territory.
Energy stocks climbed 0.8%, with sector major
Woodside up 0.7%, while tech stocks advanced as
much as 2.6% after Wall Street closed sharply higher on Friday.
Lynas Rare Earths rose as much as 3.4% after
reporting a 14.8% jump in second-quarter revenue from growing
demand for specialised metals used in components of electric
vehicles.
Insurers Suncorp Group and Insurance Australia
Group fell 3.0% and 4.1%, respectively, after the
companies said their New Zealand divisions had cumulatively
received more than 8,000 claims so far following severe storms
and flooding across the country.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.1%
to 12,045.21 by 00:17 GMT.
(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by
Subhranshu Sahu)
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