Aussie shares end lower as investors pause
On Friday 14 October 2011, 17:18 EST
Australian shares extended earlier losses to close lower following negative leads from US and European markets.By the close on Friday the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index shed 38.9 points, or 0.92 per cent, at 4,205.6 and the broader All Ordinaries index lost 37 points, or 0.86 per cent, to 4,269.
RBS Morgans private client adviser Bill Bishop said the All Ordinaries index was now down to levels of early September after falling for three of the past four weeks on the back of uncertainty in Europe.
There where relatively few local buyers on Friday as investors paused ahead of France and Germany's plan to resolve the eurozone debt crisis.
He said trading volumes were very low, with little commitment from buyers.
Turnover was 1.46 billion shares worth $3.59 billion, with 413 stocks up, 568 down and 312 steady.
Mr Bishop said investors were considering the extent to which the burden of the eurozone debt crisis would be shared by European taxpayers and European banks.
"Clearly the banks are heading towards being recapitalised in Europe, but that's going to come at a price," he said.
Mr Bishop said he expected the market to trade flat until European regulators could provide investors with a "solid, readable plan" for the eurozone.
Locally, every sector except utilities finished lower after copper, oil and gold prices fell in offshore trade on Thursday.
Typically defensive stocks like health care and telecoms, lost the least ground, trading 0.22 and 0.31 per cent respectively.
The materials sector was the worst performer, down 1.84 per cent.
Mining giant BHP Billiton fell 78 cents, or 2.07 per cent, to $36.86 and Rio Tinto was down $1.04, or 1.5 cents, at $68.30.
The price of gold in Sydney closed at $US1,664.20 per fine ounce, down $US7.10 an ounce on Thursday.
Energy stocks were also hit hard, shedding 0.97 per cent after world oil prices fell on Thursday as traders fretted about slowing demand in China.
All the major retail banks ended weaker, with Westpac shedding the most value. It closed 14 cents, or 0.64 per cent, weaker at $21.61.
The weakest stock of the top 100 companies on the ASX was Aquarius Platinum, which lost 5.8 per cent, or 18 cents, to $2.95.
The best performing stock on the same index was hearing aid manufacturer Cochlear, which jumped five per cent, or $2.56, to $53.76.
Leighton Holdings shares lost 1.8 per cent, or 37 cents to $20.27 after its offshore division was awarded an $US518 million contract by Iraq's South Oil Company (SOC) to develop two offshore platforms.
Leighton also won a separate $80 million mooring contract.
Qantas said its plight was "getting worse, not better", as engineers prepared to walk off the job on Friday, with about 7,000 passengers expected to have their travel plans disrupted.
CommSec analyst Steven Daghlian said Qantas shares had shed about 40 per cent in 2011, worse than the broader market, with the All Ords index down almost 12 per cent for the year.
The December share price index futures contract was down 22 points at 4,214, with 31,451 contracts traded.
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