Market Update: The S&P/ASX200 opened higher in the morning but was dragged down by the news that January new home price growth slowed in China's first-tier...

Market Update: The S&P/ASX200 opened higher in the morning but was dragged down by the news that January new home price growth slowed in China's first-tier cities. The index was down 0.1% to 5,432 points. Both financials and resources stocks were mixed. NAB slipped 0.6% while ANZ, CBA, WBC were 0.4%, 0.1% and 0.5% higher respectively. Transfield Services surged 26.4% after winning a $1.2bn contract from the Papua New Guinea government. BHP advanced 0.7% while RIO fell 0.5%. The AUD was a little softer trading at USD 0.8966. The SPI was flat at 5,416 points on the Sydney Futures Exchange.