Australian stocks closed little changed on Monday in a shortened last session of the year, dealers said. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.1 points to end 2007 at 6,339.8. The broader All Ordinaries lost 2.7 points on New Year's Eve to close at 6,421.0.
Turnover was about 696 million shares worth 1.8 billion dollars (1.55 billion US), with 617 stocks higher, 425 lower and 377 unchanged. "Expectedly, it's a pretty quiet day," Macquarie Private Wealth associate director David Halliday said, adding it had been a good year for Australian stocks.
The benchmark index ended the year up 11.8 percent, compared with a 19 percent gain over 2006. AMP Capital Markets chief economist Shane Oliver said global economic growth next year was likely to slow.
"2008 is likely to see weaker global economic growth, but lower global interest rates should help ensure reasonable, but constrained, investment returns overall," said Oliver. He said the stock market could be volatile, adding that there was some uncertainty about the prospects for share prices with the US at risk of recession and China trying to slow its economy.
But the market's overall trend was "likely to remain up," he said, predicting the S&P/ASX 200 index would rise to around 7,300 by the end of 2008. BHP Billiton shed 0.9 percent to 40.14 dollars and Rio Tinto eased five cents to 133.95 dollars after most base metals prices fell sharply in London on Friday.
Commonwealth Bank gained 0.4 percent at 59.10 dollars, Westpac firmed 0.1 percent to 27.92 dollars, NAB was unchanged on 37.79 dollars and ANZ slipped six cents to 27.46 dollars.