Australian shares slipped 0.2 percent on Thursday, retreating from two-week highs as big miners fell after Beijing said it needed to embrace slower growth, threatening lower demand from top-customer China. "Our market has done well given the weakness in China yesterday. The market's traded in a really tight range," said Phillip Weinberg, dealer at Karara Capital in Melbourne.
"We've held on to the gains we've put on in the last couple of days which is a positive," he said. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell 9 points to 4,277.8, according to the latest data. It had gained 0.9 percent on Wednesday and 1.2 percent on Tuesday. The index has been locked in a range between 4,150 and 4,300 since the start of the year, underperforming markets offshore.
The big banks mostly inched up, led by Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which climbed 0.4 percent. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index rose 1 percent to 3,533.7 points, a 9.5 month high. Fortescue Metals Group rose 2.6 percent to A$5.98, its highest in six months, after attracting strong interest for its $1 billion high-yield US bond offering.
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