Australia shares fall 0.9 pct on Cyprus crisis; miners weigh

(Updates to open)
SYDNEY, March 20 (Reuters) - Australian shares fell 0.9
percent early on Wednesday, tracking a decline on Wall Street on
uncertainty about how Cyprus will avoid a bank default and
possible reverberations in the euro zone, with a near 7-month
low in copper prices hurting miners.
Big miners dragged the market, with BHP Billiton,
dropping 2.7 percent and Rio Tinto sliding 2.8 percent,
after Goldman Sachs cut its price targets on the stocks due to
concerns about an oversupply in iron ore markets. Fortescue
Metals Group dropped 4.1 percent.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 46.5 points
at 4,940.9 by 2312 GMT. The benchmark dropped 0.6 percent and
closed at a one-month low on Tuesday.
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index edged up 0.3
percent to 4,358.7 in early trade.

(Reporting By Maggie Lu Yueyang; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)