Australia shares slip for a second straight day

* S&P/ASX 200 index fell 7 points to 4,483.5 * Lynas Corp Ltd

plunges 15 pct on Malaysia delay

* Iluka down 6.6 pct on revenues

MELBOURNE, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Australian shares recovered from session lows to close 0.2 percent lower on Thursday, paring steeper losses after data showed a jump in jobs in September and more people looking for work.

The Australian dollar

hit a one-week high as expectations for a November rate cut weakened after government data showed employment rose 14,500 in September, compared to forecasts for a slight rise of 3,750.

.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index

fell 7 points to 4,483.5, according to the latest data, off a session low of 4,460.4.

Shares pulled back from 14-month highs on Wednesday after the IMF cut its growth forecast for China, Australia's biggest export market.

"The analysis from the IMF has been important for the direction that the market has taken in recent days. It underlines just how many issues there are to be dealt with by policy makers," said David Land, analyst at CMC Markets.

The jobs data showed Australia's unemployment rose three notches to 5.4 percent in September as more people looked for work.

"The best appraisal is that the economy is in a holding pattern. As such, rate cuts still remain on the agenda, but the size of job growth in the latest month does make it harder for the Reserve Bank to justify a rate cut in November," said Craig James, economist at CommSec.

Earlier this month, the central bank cut Australia's rates to a three-year low as growth slows in top trading partner China.

Local stocks had fallen at the outset after U.S. equities sank on corporate warnings of slower growth.

BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto both fell 0.7 percent.

Mineral sands miner Iluka Resources

slumped 6.6 percent to A$9 after it reported a drop in first quarter revenue.

Lynas Corp Ltd

plunged 15 percent A$0.73 as it faced another delay in opening its rare earths plant in Malaysia, raising the prospect the company may need to shore up its funding with a share sale.

Its shares fell to a six-week intraday low of A$0.69.

Seven Group Holdings

rose 3.6 percent ot A$7.28 after the competition regulator blocked it bidding for pay-tv stakeholder Consolidated Media Holdings

.

Seven said as a result, it would back News Corp's $2 billion agreed offer. Seven stands to earn about A$500 million from the sale of its stake of around 25 percent in Consolidated.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index

slipped 0.1 percent to 3,883.3.

(Reporting by Miranda Maxwell; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

((miranda.maxwell@reuters.com)(Reuters

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