Australian shares slip.

Australian shares inched lower on Friday, extending losses for a fourth session, as strong US economic data stoked fears that the Federal Reserve would deliver another rate hike to control sticky inflation. The SandP/ASX 200 index was down 0.1 percent at 7,161.00, as of 0026 GMT, declining 1.8 percent so far in the week. Data released overnight showed that the number of jobless claims in the United States fell unexpectedly last week to the lowest level since February, indicating that the country's jobs market was still very...