Australian shares fell 0.5 percent on Monday, with Qantas Airways touching three-week lows on engine problems and weakness in some major blue chips as they went ex-dividend. Westpac Banking Corp fell 4.6 percent to A$22.29 while Macquarie Group fell 1 percent to A$37.03 as those shares traded exclusive of dividend on Monday.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell 22.2 points to 4,778.4, according to the latest available data. The index rose 1.2 percent to six-month highs on Friday. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index slipped 2.8 points to 3,316.4. Qantas Airways slid 4 percent after it decided to keep its Airbus A380 fleet grounded because of problems on three engines on two planes.
Qantas shares sank to a low of A$2.74 before ending down 2.1 percent at A$2.80, the lowest close since October 21. Orica, the world's top maker of explosives for mines, rose 2.9 percent to A$26.44, a one-month high, after it reported a 4.6 percent rise in full-year profit, beating market forecasts. Shares in rival Incitec Pivot also jumped to a two-year high of A$3.96 and closed up 3.5 percent at A$3.88.
One dealer attributed some of the gain in Incitec and Orica to dealing room chatter that BHP Billiton might eye one of them for a take-over, as it casts around for potential targets after Canada blocked its $39 billion bid for Potash Corp. Still, BHP experts said Orica and Incitec were manufacturers and did not fit BHP's acquisition profile, and BHP was unlikely to want to reacquire the fertiliser business it sold to Incitec a few years ago. Westfield, the world's biggest shopping mall landlord, fell 4.2 percent to A$12.17 after a capital raising to fund a restructure.