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Despite a strong lead from Wall Street and higher commodity prices, the Australian share market closed in negative territory, reversing earlier intraday gains, on cautiousness about global investments markets.
At the 1615 AEDT close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 20 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 5,960,
and the All Ordinaries had shed 21.1 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 6,019.8.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index was down 15 points to 5,951 on a volume of 27,555 contracts.
ABN Amro Morgans Ipswich manager Tony Russell said nervousness ruled the local market today.
"The market is very jittery, we've been swinging from positive to negative."
Mr Russell said Australian investors were cautious about the earnings results coming from the United States.
"We'll see some of the major financial institutions reporting in the US tonight, so the market might be waiting to see what happens there."
Mr Russell said trading conditions were thin, with many investors still on holiday.
"We're still probably involved in the holiday season, which isn't helping things."
On Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 171.85 points to 12,778.15 after a strong profit result from IBM eased concerns over the global economy.
Locally, the big miners closed stronger. BHP put on 47 cents, or 1.23 per cent, to A$38.71, while takeover target and rival Rio Tinto gained A$1.70, or 1.36 per cent, to A$126.70.
A particularly poor performer was Centro Properties Group, which had shed 26 cents, or 30.23 per cent, to 60 cents, while Centro Retail Group fell 26 cents, or 44.44 per cent, to 32.5 cents.
Centro today announced the resignation of its chief executive and said some debt on its books may be greater than previously reported.
The price of spot gold in Sydney reached US$909.20 per fine ounce at 1633 AEDT, up US$13.55 from yesterday's price of US$895.65 per fine ounce.
Gold producers were accordingly stronger. Lihir was one cent firmer to A$3.99, Newcrest Mining was up 36 cents to A$38.85 and Newmont Mining had edged eight cents higher to A$6.22.
Monarch Gold Mining, which recently announced a positive gold result at its River Ina project, was up 8.5 cents, or 12.78 per cent, to 75 cents.
Windimurra Vanadium Ltd added six cents to A$1.90.
Energy stocks were mostly in the black. Oil Search gained nine cents to A$4.72, Santos found 10 cents to A$14.40, but Woodside Petroleum was A$1.05 lower, or 2.05 per cent, at A$50.05.
Banking stocks were mostly stronger. ANZ put on 41 cents to A$26.09, National Australia Bank was up 63 cents to A$35.80, Westpac had increased 20 cents to A$25.82, but Commonwealth Bank had shed 75 cents, or 1.35 per cent, to A$54.95.
Retail stocks were weaker. Coles owner Wesfarmers was down 39 cents to A$38.45, David Jones was eight cents lower to A$4.87, Woolworths was down 56 cents to A$33.13 and Harvey Norman was 16 cents lower to A$5.87.
In the media sector, Fairfax added one cent to A$4.58, News Corp rose 38 cents to A$22.43, its non-voting scrip lost two cents to A$21.53 and Consolidated Media was six cents lower to A$3.93.
Telstra was down four cents to A$4.58, its instalment receipts were off three cents to A$3.03 and Optus-owner Singapore Telecommunications was steady at A$3.15.
Making headlines today, Rio Tinto subsidiary Energy Resources of Australia Ltd (ERA) lifted annual production at its Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory by 14 per cent on the back of a better operational performance and higher ore grades.
ERA shares added A$1.63, or nine per cent, to A$19.73.
Qantas received a broker downgrade to "sell" from "neutral" on the view that the airline could face headwinds in fiscal 2009. Its shares fell 23 cents, or 4.48 per cent, to A$4.90.
Virgin Blue Holdings lifted eight cents, or 4.71 per cent, to A$1.78.
Centro Properties was the most traded stock by volume, with 140.1 million shares changing hands together worth A$87.4 million.
Preliminary market turnover was 1.69 billion shares worth A$6.13 billion with 542 shares up, 700 down and 342 unchanged.
- AAP