Australia shares dip as market momentum stays choppy

(Adds analysis, quotes, stocks on the move)

SYDNEY, March 27 (Reuters) - Australian shares were down 0.9 percent on Thursday on selling across the board as investors fretted about tougher sanctions being implemented on Russia, a dip in copper and gold prices hurt resource stocks, and a number of stocks traded ex-dividend.

The benchmark has been choppy recently, falling in five of the past 10 sessions, as worries about Ukraine and slowing growth in China have been countered by some bargain hunting.

"You mix all these things together and it just feels like there's some uncertainty going forward," said John Zhu, a portfolio manager at Triple 3 Partners, an independent investment manager in Sydney.

Resource stocks put the market on the back foot after copper prices dropped and gold fell to near $1,300 an ounce.

Blue-chip miners BHP Billiton Ltd BHP.AX and Rio Tinto Ltd

RIO.AX lost 1.8 percent and 1.3 percent, while PanAust Ltd

PNA.AX dropped 4.4 percent. Top Australian gold producer Newcrest Mining Ltd NCM.AX was down 2.6 percent.

The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO was 47.1 points lower at 5,329.7 at 0112 GMT, just above its low for the morning. The benchmark rose 0.8 percent on Wednesday, but has been trending lower since hitting a 5-1/2 year high of 5,462.3 on March 7.

Investment analysts also said sentiment had been unsettled by signals from the U.S. Federal Reserve that interest rates may rise earlier than the markets had expected. News Search ID:nL2N0MI1E5

"This policy change is unlikely to have a large impact on advanced sharemarkets, but emerging markets and Asian markets are likely to bear a heavier burden in a world with a rising cost of capital," Matt Sherwood, head of investment market research at Perpetual, said in a note.

A number of stocks went ex-dividend and traded lower. QBE Insurance Ltd QBE.AX shed 1.8 percent and STW Communications Group Ltd SGN.AX tumbled 5.5 percent. Casino operator Crown Resorts Ltd CWN.AX , which also said Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd shareholders had approved a special dividend, was down 2 percent. News Search ID:nWNBS00E2U

Lynas Corp Ltd LYC.AX surged 22.2 percent, which if sustained would be its biggest one-day rise since September 2012, after saying its commercial production and sales of rare earth oxide products would rise in the March quarter. News Search ID:nWNBS00E2X

Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd SIP.AX jumped 4.8 percent, after its full-year net profit more than doubled. News Search ID:nASX4wmkBB

New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index .NZ50 slipped 0.1 percent to 5,120.9.

(Reporting by Thuy Ong; Editing by John Mair)

((thuy.ong@thomsonreuters.com)(+61 2 9373 1236)(Reuters Messaging: thuy.ong.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

 
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