The Australian sharemarket slipped into the red to close around 0.7
per cent lower, led down by weaker major mining stocks.
The S&P/ASX200 index was down 26 points, or 0.73 per cent, to 3531.4.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index contract was 21points lower at 3532.
"There was a fall off the cliff around 1pm - a lot of people went out to lunch - and then we zig-zagged and finished up off the lows," Austock Securities senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said.
"But it was BHP Billiton and Rio that came in for a belting of the major stocks," he said.
Rio Tinto said it had suspended its iron ore production at one of its
mines in Western Australia on Monday.
Rio's share price closed A$2.03, or 5.43 per cent, lower at A$35.37, while BHP lost A$1.15, or 3.88 per cent, to A$28.49 despite higher
metals prices in London overnight.
Metals were broadly higher thanks to a weaker US dollar and rising
Chinese imports, IG Markets' research analyst Ben Potter said. "However,
gains are expected to be limited with underlying demand concerns likely to cap significant rises," he said.
China's central bank announced on Monday a cut of 0.27 percentage points in its benchmark one-year rate, which disappointed Asian markets yesterday, Potter said.
"Many participants had been looking for a larger cut, some as much as double the 27 basis points received."
Australia's largest energy retailer, AGL Energy, and Sydney Gas
remained in trading halts pending an announcement about a material
transaction, which the latter says is in relation to a takeover bid.
Harvey Norman finished steady at A$2.35 after saying like-for-like
weekly written sales were down by 3 to 4per cent, on average, since October.
