Australian stocks: Weak lead followed

The Australian share market closed lower on profit-taking amid a weak lead from United States and an unchanged domestic unemployment rate.

At the 1615 AEST close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had fallen 23 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 4937.9 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index had dropped 22.9 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 4960.3 points.

On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the June share price index futures contract was 28 points lower at 4,952 points, on a volume of 17,957 contracts, according to preliminary calculations.

CMC Markets market analyst David Taylor said figures released in the US overnight showing weaker than expected demand for consumer credit in February suggested that economic recovery in the US still had a long way to go.

"I put the run down (on the Australian share market) to the consumer credit data out of the US last night," Mr Taylor said.

"It really just put the defensive play back on for most of today."

Mr Taylor said investors took profits on Thursday after the market made gains on Tuesday and Wednesday, with money coming out of energy and materials stocks.

Mr Taylor said Australian employment data for March, which left the jobless rate steady at 5.3 per cent, had been expected and had had little effect on the market.

In the resources sector, global miner BHP Billiton was down 82 cents at $43.75, while Rio Tinto dumped 86 cents to $80.00.

Macarthur Coal was up five cents at $14.36 as it said it could not take US-based Peabody Energy Corporation's $3.5 billion takeover bid seriously because it is neither binding nor definitive.

Mineral Resources eased 10 cents to $7.68 as it and its joint-venture partner sought up to $100 million in funding to revive the stalled Windimurra vanadium project in Western Australia.

Junior coal explorer MetroCoal surged six cents to 27 cents as it sealed a $30 million joint-venture deal with a subsidiary of China National Coal Group Corp to explore a thermal coal permit in Queensland.

Mr Taylor said the energy sector was hit following a drop in the oil price overnight.

Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum backtracked 46 cents to $47.14, and Santos retreated 17 cents to $14.68.

Among the major banks, National Australia Bank descended 39 cents to $27.61, Westpac weakened by 30 cents to $27.78, ANZ gave away 33 cents to $25.18, but Commonwealth Bank rose 46 cents to $57.93.

On Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index dropped 72.47 points, or 0.66 per cent, to 10,897.52.

In the gold sector, Lihir Gold added seven cents to $3.96, and Newcrest climbed 23 cents to $35.50.

Lihir was also the top-traded stock by volume, with 95.19 million shares worth $377.5 million changing hands.

The price of gold at 1622 AEST was US$1146.40 per fine ounce, up US$8.33 on Wednesday's close of US$1138.07.

Telco Telstra was five cents richer at $3.07, and Optus-owner Singapore Telecommunications dipped four cents to $2.44.

Retailer Woolworths was up 30 cents at $28.78, and Wesfarmers, which owns Coles, gained 43 cents to $31.95.

In the media sector, News Corp was off 22 cents at $18.55, and its non-voting stock shed 21 cents to $15.70.

Consolidated Media fell seven cents to $3.07, and Fairfax scraped off one cent to $1.77.

Among other stocks, wine company Australian Vintage was three cents lower at 24 cents after it ended talks with global wine giant Constellation Brands Inc (CBI) over a potential merger of their Australian and United Kingdom businesses.

Property developer and investor Mirvac Group lost 5.5 cents at $1.425 as it completed the $350 million institutional component of a capital raising, saying the offer had been "significantly oversubscribed".

Preliminary national turnover was 2.58 billion shares worth $5.76 billion, with 563 stocks down, 528 up and 363 unchanged.

- AAP