Australian shares flat; New Zealand hits another record

Australian shares finished flat on Tuesday with Wall Street offering no lead and bulls chastened by the repeated failure to break major chart resistance in the past week. The S&P/ASX 200 index finished at 5,166 points at the close of trade. It fell 0.3 percent on Monday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index hit a record high and closed up 0.3 percent or 22.3 points to finish the session at 6,664.25. The index hit a record high of 6,664.26 as yield-hungry investors continued to shift funds out of bank deposits amid New Zealand's record low interest rates. Telecoms was the biggest gaining sector with a jump of 1.9 percent, led in large part by upbeat results from internet provider TPG Telecom.