Australia's Alumina slides to H1 loss

MELBOURNE, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Australia's Alumina Ltd (AWC.AX) slid into the red in the first half of 2009 as alumina and aluminium prices tumbled on slack demand, but the company said on Thursday there were early signs of recovery in some key markets. Alumina reported a loss of A$15 million ($12.6 million) for the six months to June, down from underlying earnings after tax of A$152 million a year ago, beating market expectations. Four analysts on average had expected a loss of around A$19.7 million on the same basis, seeing the first half of 2009 as the bottom of the downturn for the company. Alumina, a 40 percent partner in the Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals (AWAC) joint venture with Alcoa Inc (AA.N), flagged in February it expected to cut aluminium production costs by more than $50 a tonne in 2009. ($1=1.189 Australian Dollar) (Reporting by Sonali Paul)