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Australia stocks end down 0.5 pct in nervous trade

Reuters - Friday, September 26

MELBOURNE, Sept 26 - Australian shares fell 0.5 percent on Friday in a rocky session as the progress of a $700 billion U.S. bailout plan stalled and America suffered its biggest bank failure yet, with Washington Mutual <WM.N> swallowed by JPMorgan <JPM.N>.

Financial stocks such as investment bank Macquarie Group <MQG.AX> and miner BHP Billiton Ltd <BHP.AX> turned lower as nervous investors waited for U.S. Congress to decide if and when it will proceed with the rescue package.

The S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> ended down 22.6 points at 4,904.8, according to the latest available data.

Earlier in Friday's session it had been over 1 percent higher and the index managed to hold on to a 2 percent gain over the week.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX-50 index <.NZ50> fell 1.5 percent to 3,187.6. New Zealand fell into recession for the first time in more than a decade, data showed on Friday.

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