Aussie stocks close suffer small dip

MELBOURNE - The Australian sharemarket closed slightly lower on Friday as investors took profits amid nervousness abuot the strength of companies reporting financial results in the United States.

At 1615 AEDT on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had fallen 15.7 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 4,752.9, and the broader All Ordinaries index dropped 8.8 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 4,754.5.

On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the December share price index futures contract had reversed 15 points to 4757, on a volume of 25,089 contracts, according to preliminary calculations.

RBS Morgans private client adviser Trent Muller said local trading on Friday was subdued.

"The weakness probably has to got more to do with nervousness associated with the reporting season in the US and being prepared for some disappointment if it does happen - that's why we've underperformed," Mr Muller said.

Mr Muller said the performance of stocks across the board was mixed: for example, some of the banks and resources stocks were up but others in those sectors were down.

Stocks that did well on Friday included importers who were benefiting from the higher Australian dollar.

Stocks performing poorly were those highly leveraged to earnings in the US.

In the resources sector, global miner BHP Billiton fell 31 cents to $37.85, and Rio Tinto rose 20 cents to $61.50.

Junior iron ore explorer United Minerals was suspended from trading, amid speculation BHP Billiton Ltd may be set to seek control of the company. United last traded at 91 cents.

Polaris Metals hovered at 62 cents after the company's board was unable to decide which of two takeover bids for the iron ore explorer was superior.

Nickel producer Minara Resources was up 5.5 cents at $1.00 after it said it was cautious about the prices of the commodity.

Among the major banks, National Australia Bank added 25 cents to $31.60, Westpac surrendered 18 cents to $26.12, ANZ ejected 12 cents to $24.62, and Commonwealth Bank was up 19 cents at $53.16.

Elsewhere in the financial services sector, Australia's biggest annuities provider, Challenger Financial Services Group, firmed 15 cents at $3.58 after the company said it had put in place the structure and had the money to grow existing businesses and buy new ones in the economic recovery.

On Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index was up 61.29 points, or 0.63 per cent, at 9786.87.

Telco Telstra was seven cents lower at $3.16 after it said the federal government's "unnecessary" proposed regulatory changes would destroy shareholder value. Telstra is urging significant amendments. Optus-owner Singapore Telecommunications was four cents richer at $2.47.

In the gold sector, Lihir dipped four cents to $3.13, Newmont backtracked seven cents to $5.18, and Newcrest strengthened 56 cents to $35.72.

The price of gold in Sydney at 1630 AEDT was US$1048.10 per fine ounce, down US$5.47 on Thursday's close of US$1053.57.

Among media stocks, News Corp nudged up one cent to $15.52, while its non-voting stock added one cent to $13.39.

Consolidated Media improved five cents to $3.05, and Fairfax found three cents at $1.715.

Retailer Woolworths lost 38 cents to $28.85, and Wesfarmers, which owns Coles, was off 10 cents at $26.30.

Among other stocks, product marketing business GUD Holdings was down 14 cents at $8.48 after it made a takeover offer for Breville Group to create a major Australasian small appliances business.

Property developer Lend Lease Corp slipped three cents to $10.51 after it and its joint-venture partner completed the sale of London's O2 arena.

The top-traded stock by volume was microdot technology firm DataDot Technology, with 106.78 million shares worth $11.36 million changing hands. DataDot was 3.1 cents higher at 8.2 cents.

Preliminary national turnover was 2.9 billion shares worth $6.41 billion, with 629 stocks up, 474 down and 348 unchanged.

- AAP