Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index was little changed at 4,073.8 at 10:37 a.m. in Sydney. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index rose 0.2 percent to 3,253.4 in Wellington.

The following were among the most active shares in the market today. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names.

Mining stocks: BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP AU), the world’s No. 1 mining company, slipped 0.1 at A$34.46. Rio Tinto Group (RIO AU), the second-largest global miner by sales, advanced 0.6 percent to A$60.68.

News Corp. (NWS AU) rose 1.3 percent to A$17.88 after the media group’s U.S.-listed stock was raised to “top pick” from “outperform” by RBC Capital Markets.

Samson Oil & Gas Ltd. (SSN AU) slumped 6.7 percent to 9.8 Australian cents. The energy explorer and producer reported pump valves may have been damaged at a project in Wyoming, the permeability of a reservoir at another may be too tight and sand needs to be removed at a third site, keeping the project from proceeding, according to a statement.

--Editor: Jim Powell.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nichola Saminather in Sydney at nsaminather1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net