Australian shares up

Australian shares edged up 0.2 percent on Wednesday, recovering from seven-week lows as top banks rose in cautious trade to offset losses in other sectors, notably energy stocks. A successful bond auction in Greece lent some support. But investors are increasingly nervous the looming US fiscal cliff will slow economic growth and could even tip the world's largest economy into recession. That in turn could reduce growth in China, Australia's biggest export market.
"Investors still appear unwilling to venture into risk assets," said Tim Waterer, trader at CMC Markets. "The spectre of the fiscal cliff is serving to downplay financial market performance until such time as this colossal hurdle is overcome by Washington. In the meantime, downward shifts in the market will likely be sharper than any shifts to the upside while the chance of a double dip recession remains even a faint chance," he said.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose 8.6 points to 4,388.4, according to the latest data. It dropped 1.5 percent on Tuesday, and fell as low as 4,372 in Wednesday trade, its weakest since September 28. Commonwealth Bank of Australia led bank gains with a rise of 0.7 percent, partly recovering a fall of 1.2 percent seen on Tuesday. QBE Insurance recovered 2.4 percent. It had plunged 7.5 percent on Tuesday.
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index fell 0.4 percent to 3,955.6. Credit Suisse equity strategist Damien Boey said the onus was now on policymakers, but economic theorists were divided between whether austerity or stimulus were best to solve global debt and growth dilemmas. Fairfax Media rose 4 percent to A$0.40 after it sold its United States rural media business for $US79.9 million to Penton Media. BHP Billiton slipped to A$33.73, its weakest close in a month. The company said earlier it sees less need to grow iron ore operations aggressively.
CSR rallied 7 percent to A$1.67 after reporting net profit for the half year of A$20.4 million. CSR said it saw some encouraging signs of a recovery in housing construction beyond the current year. Wesfarmers rose 0.6 percent to A$33.94. The conglomerate said its Coles food and liquor business was showing growth into the second quarter and price deflation was easing. Myer rose 0.3 percent to A$2.