MELBOURNE - The Australian stock market closed sharply lower today despite lifting in the afternoon, after US markets overnight fell to their lowest finish in five months.
Major resources and banking stocks led the way down.
"The (Australian) market was pretty volatile. We obviously had a negative lead from America,"
ABN Amro Morgans private client adviser Simon Ferguson said.
Mr Ferguson said the local bourse rallied in the afternoon as investors looked to pick up bargains.
But the market was also going through a correction after a strong run upwards in recent months.
"I would say we're still trying to find the bottom," Mr Ferguson said.
"What we've seen is that any rally has struggled to gain traction for more than a day. We're really in the hands of the US market at the moment."
At the 1605 AEST close, the S&P/ASX200 was 37.2 points lower at 4431.0 while the all ordinaries fell 34.5 points to 4394.9.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the December share price index contract retreated 31 points to 4443 on a volume of 15,247, according to preliminary calculations.
On Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average index retreated 36.26 points to 10,216.91 as heightened fears of rising interest rates impacted investor sentiment.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 7.19 points to 1177.68 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 23.62 points at 2037.47.
Stock Move Price AMP -0.010 7.340 ANZ Bank -0.180 23.160 BHPBilton -0.360 20.470 CBA -0.050 37.400 NAB -0.190 31.960 NewsCorp -0.250 20.350 Rio Tinto -0.790 56.690 TelstraCp -0.040 4.100 WestpacBk -0.090 20.590
In the resources sector, BHP Billiton dumped 36 cents to A$20.47 as it said oil and gas production for this financial year would be be up to 10 million barrels lower, largely due to damage to production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico caused by Hurricane Rita.
Rio Tinto fell 79 cents to A$56.69 and Alumina eased three cents to A$5.78.
Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum slid 20 cents to A$32.38, and Santos eased two cents to A$12.13.
Among the major banks, the National Australia Bank was off 19 cents to A$31.96, the Commonwealth Bank surrendered five cents at A$37.40, the ANZ discarded 18 cents to A$23.16, and Westpac gave away nine cents to A$20.59.
The Bank of Queensland gained 30 cents to A$12.70 as it recorded a 42 percent rise in 2004/05 net profit but said it was unlikely that its ambitious branch rollout would meet targets.
In the media sector, News Corp was lost 25 cents to A$20.35 while its non-voting shares descended 17 cents to A$19.51.
Publishing and Broadcasting sagged four cents to A$16.42, and John Fairfax shed eight cents to A$4.27.
Among the retailers, Coles Myer was down 23 cents to A$9.82, and Woolworths was off 35 cents to A$15.40. Harvey Norman Holdings was steady at A$2.74 as it said first quarter sales were up 8.1 percent to A$1.06 billion for the three months to September 30, 2005.
Telco Telstra slipped four cents to A$4.10 while Optus-owner Singapore Telecommunications fell 0.5 of a cent to A$1.94.
Among gold stocks, Newcrest gained 15 cents to A$19.57, and Lihir stepped back 3.5 cents to A$1.74.
The price of gold in Sydney at 1655 AEST was A$US473.60 per fine ounce, down A$US4.50 per fine ounce.
Among other stocks, soft drink company Coca-Cola Amatil fell 32 cents to A$7.64.
The group expects earnings to grow at low double-digit levels in the second half of the year and warned of continuing cost pressures from rising commodity and petrol prices.
Qantas slipped two cents to A$3.36 as it said the cost of fuel was the key factor for the airline in the year ahead.
Support services provider Brambles Industries was placed in a trading halt today and last traded at A$8.63..
After the market closed it announced it would sell the German arm of its waste management business Cleanaway for A$893 million and buy Melbourne-based information manager Ausdoc for A$260 million.
Junior mining and exploration firm Buka Gold made its market debut today, finishing at 49 cents, one cent below its issue price of 50 cents.
The top traded stock by volume was life sciences firm IM Medical, with 48.94 million shares worth A$911,000 changing hands. IM Medical shares were 0.3 of a cent higher at 1.8 cents.
Preliminary national turnover was 1.31 billion shares worth 3.85 billion, with 609 stocks stocks down, 377 up and 321 unchanged.
- AAP
MELBOURNE - The Australian stock market closed sharply lower today despite lifting in the afternoon, after US markets overnight fell to their lowest finish in five months.
Major resources and banking stocks led the way down.
"The (Australian) market was pretty volatile. We obviously had a negative lead from America,"
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