Australia shares fall 0.6 pct as miners drag; BHP, Rio down

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Australian shares fell 0.6 percent on Wednesday, backing off from a fresh five-year high reached in the morning, as miners deepened their losses on falling iron ore prices.

Weakness in resources shares offset gains in companies likely to benefit most from weakness in the Australian dollar.

BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Ltd dropped 1.9 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively, after the two largest miners said on Tuesday that they would slash billions of dollars of spending.

Spot iron ore prices fell on Wednesday to match their lowest level for the year as a soft Chinese steel market and expectations of increased supply pressured the steelmaking raw material.

The S&P/ASX 200 index lost 29.3 points to 5,191.7, according to the latest data. The benchmark edged 0.2 percent higher to a five-year closing high on Tuesday.

Stocks which benefited most from the softer Australian dollar included QBE Insurance Group Ltd, which added 0.8 percent, and the world's second-biggest wine company Treasury Wine Estates, which gained 1.6 percent.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index ended nearly flat at 4,646.3, adding 0.5 point.

(Reporting by Maggie Lu Yueyang; Editing by Kim Coghill)

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