Australian stocks finish flat

MELBOURNE - The Australian share market finished the day flat, as rises to big miners outweighed a lower banking sector.

At the 1615 AEDT close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index edged up 0.4 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 4050.7 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index gained 0.1 per cent, 4.1 points, to 4048.3.

On the Sydney Futures Exchange at 1615 AEST, the September share price index contract was 12 points higher at 4020 on a volume of 18,282 contracts.

Macquarie Equities associate director Lucinda Chan said it was a quiet day on the market.

"We have been trading a bit sideways, given we have had very strong five days running," Ms Chan said.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto was up $1.52 cents, or 2.85 per cent, at $54.92 and rival BHP Billiton gained 19 cents, or 0.53 per cent, to $36.19.

"It is the banks leading us lower and the resources keeping us afloat there.

"Of course the energy sector has been particularly strong today," she said.

Other miners had a mixed day, with Fortescue Metals Group down seven cents at $4.21 and OZ Minerals off 0.5 cents at $1.015.

On Tuesday OZ Minerals released its quarterly update, saying its Prominent Hill copper and gold mine in South Australia was on track to meet earlier production guidance.

Among the gold miners Newmont Mining finished up five cents at $5.12 but rival Newcrest was off 28 cents at $30.96.

Lihir Gold has received expressions of interest to buy its least productive asset, Victoria's Ballarat mine, edged up one cent to $2.91.

At 1627 AEST the local spot price of gold was US$948.60, up US$3.25 per ounce on Monday's close of US$945.35.

Major energy stocks had a strong day, with Woodside Petroleum up 34 cents at $43.34, Santos up 12 cents at $14.61 and Origin Energy rising 13 cents to $14.76.

Oil Search on Tuesday reported a small increase in oil and gas production in the June quarter, and shares in the company fell two cents to $5.58.

Shares in Adelaide-based Centrex Metals rose 13.56 per cent, or four cents, to 33.5 cents, after China's third-largest steel group formally agreed to invest $186 million in a joint venture with the company.

Ms Chan said mining companies were buoyed by upbeat comments by the Reserve Bank of Australia about the domestic economy.

"The RBA said the local economy itself is looking quite firm. It was a positive stance," Ms Chan said.

"They (resource stocks) are up as a whole, I think, because everyone is of a view that if Australia is going to come through the tough times as economies grow globally, then the demand for our materials is going to be stronger, so they have got a strong lift on the back of that," she said.

Banks ended the day mixed, but the sector as a whole was down.

Commonwealth Bank finished down 15 cents at $39.75, National Australia Bank fell 30 cents to $23.58 and ANZ was off 10 cents at $16.77.

But Westpac was up seven cents at $20.31 while the Macquarie Group gained 60 cents to $38.80.

Ms Chan said investors may have been selling down bank stocks on the back of big gains to the sector recently.

"The banks have had a huge run lately. I think that is really it. NAB has fallen particularly low," she said.

The retail sector finished the day mixed, with Woolworths rising 11 cents to $27.70 and rival Wesfarmers up eight cents at $24.08.

But Harvey Norman lost 21 cents, or 6.05 per cent, to $3.26 and up-market retailer David Jones fell 12 cents to $4.67.

Harvey Norman reported a 3.8 per cent lift in total sales for 2008/09, softer than the 8.7 per cent growth of the previous financial year.

The media sector was generally stronger, with West Australian Newspapers Holdings up 9.82 per cent, or 48 cents, at $5.37, and Fairfax Media up nearly six per cent, 7.5 cents, at $1.345.

News Corp shares rose 38 cents to $13.99 while the its non-voting scrip lifted 29 cents, to $12.01.

Shares in Consolidated Media were off one cent at $2.66.

At 1650 AEST the top-traded stock by volume was Hawthorn Resources, with about 77.3 million shares worth $831,000 changing hands.

Its shares were down 9.09 per cent, 0.1 cents, at one cent.

Preliminary national turnover was 1.91 billion shares worth about $4.14 billion with 577 stocks up, 435 down and 337 unchanged.

- AAP