Australia shares cautiously higher, NZ also firmer

SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Australian shares staged a half-hearted rebound on Friday following a rally on Wall Street, and were still on track to end the week lower with many investors put off by the recent volatility in global financial markets and commodity prices.

The S&P/ASX (Other OTC: ASXFF - news) 200 index rose a mere 4.52 points, or 0.09 percent, to 4,913.90 by 0207 GMT, having been up as much as 1.8 percent earlier. The benchmark was down 1.5 percent on the week, extending last week's 5.8 percent drop.

Faring slightly better, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX (Other OTC: NZSTY - news) 50 index put on 0.84 percent, or 51.14 points, to 6,160.43. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) was flat on the week, steadying from last week's 2.6 percent decline.

Sentiment improved somewhat after U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . stocks posted their best performance in over a month as a rebound in oil prices helped fuel a rally in energy shares. But a lower open in Chinese stocks on Friday quickly dampened the mood.

Much of the market's angst stem from a recent meltdown in Chinese stocks and a sharp depreciation of the yuan. Both events stoked concerns that Beijing was losing its grip on economic policy just as the country looked set to post its slowest growth in 25 years.

"Some sense of stability does seem to have been wrestled into the Chinese yuan this week, but the Chinese equity markets have been more immune to muscular shows of state intervention," said Angus Nicholson, market analyst at IG (LSE: IGG.L - news) .

China's CSI300 index fell 0.6 percent in early trade, following a 2.1 percent rise on Thursday. The index was still down an eye-watering 14 percent so far this year.

Reflecting the jittery mood, Australia's oil and gas producers such as Woodside Petroleum (Xetra: WOP.DE - news) pared early gains to be up a mere 0.6 percent. Woodside shares were up as much as 3.9 percent earlier.

The big four banks were mixed, while global miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO.L - news) both rose by around 2 percent.

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In New Zealand, Spark, SKY TV and Fletcher Building were among the best performers, but Ryman Healthcare fell 0.7 percent.

Volumes remained tepid as many investors are still on holidays or have been sidelined by recent volatility. (Reporting by Ian Chua in SYDNEY and Rebecca Howard in WELLINGTON; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)