SYDNEY - Australian stocks ended lower in a quite day's trading yesterday on mixed commodity prices and a lacklustre lead from Wall Street.
Retailers Woolworths and David Jones were stronger after the Coles Group board recommended its shareholders accept a refreshed takeover offer from Wesfarmers.
At the close,the S&P/ASX200 index lost 11.6 points to 6263.30.
ABN Amro Morgans private client adviser Bill Bishop said the local market had fallen after a weak lead from the United States and mixed base metal price.
"It's been a pretty flat day's trading with the market looking to find its feet," Bishop said.
"Certainly , Wall Street wasn't too bad - it was also a bit of a nothing night there too."
Bishop said the market might also be taking a breather after steaming ahead for the past three months.
"We had a bit of fright last week and we're getting over the fright.
"The subprime mortgages question [in the US] still lurks, but it's been put on the back burner temporarily."
Shares in Coles Group and Wesfarmers remained at A$16.12 and A$45.73 having been placed in a trading halt ahead of Wesfarmers' announcement yesterday afternoon of a new A$17.25 bid for Australia's second-biggest retailer.
"We've heard this is it a number of times, but at A$17.25 a share, I think they could do a lot worse than take it," Bishop said.
"It's a bit like selling property. Quite often when you auction the house and the auction fails you don't always settle afterwards and the value starts to diminish if people think the sellers are cornered."
"And Coles has sort of cornered themselves a bit by not dealing with the offshore people."
A consortium of private equity firms, led by TPG Group, had previously pulled out of the running for the whole company.
Rival retailer Woolworths added A35c to A$27.35 and high-end retailer David Jones picked up A7c to A$6.64.
"Woolworths might be being seen by the management as being in a position to capitalise from any disorganisation arising from the sale of Coles," Bishop said.
National Australia Bank fell A42c to A$40.60, Commonwealth Bank lost A57c to A$54.68, and ANZ dropped A28c to A$28.71.
But Westpac bucked the trend, adding A19c to A$25.85.
Telstra was steady at A$4.59 and Qantas fell A7c to A$5.53.
The most traded stock by volume was Multiplex Group, with 124 million shares changing hands. The developer's shares rose a cent to A$4.93.
