Australia shares ease 1.1pc; BHP, Rio lead market lower

SYDNEY: Australian shares fell 1.1 percent in early trade on Friday, with material and resources stocks leading the falls, as commodity prices and overseas stocks eased after weak Chinese trade data raised concerns about global growth.

"It's just taking a bit of a pause mid-race so to speak at the moment," Michael Heffernan senior client adviser and strategist, Austock Group.

"I don't think you'd take anything out of that given the fact that overseas markets were a bit lackluster last night, nothing to get too concerned about with the markets performance this morning I'd say," he added.

Global miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton both lost nearly 2 percent in morning trade on the back of weaker commodity prices overnight.

Cochlear bucked the trend to rise 4.45 percent to A$53.48 in morning trade after.

Slovakia's parliament backed a plan to bolster the euro zone's rescue fund overnight after political parties agreed to hold an early election, concluding the ratification process in all euro zone countries, bolstering optimism in Europe.

"Certainly the heat out of the European crisis, I think, is certainly being turned down a lot now and I think while you don't want to go out on a limb and say the worst of the European impact on the market is over, I would be prepared to certainly walk further along that limb so to speak," said Heffernan.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 45.8 points at 4,199 by 0121 GMT. The benchmark rose 1 percent to a six week closing high of Thursday.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index fell 6.9 points to 3,299.8.

STOCKS ON THE MOVE:

Leighton Holdings shares fell 1.4 percent to A$20.36, after announcing it had been awarded a $518 million Iraqi crude oil project contract.

Ironbark Zinc shares rose 3.3 percent after announcing it ha entered into a US$50 million funding facility with Glencore.

Copyright Reuters, 2011