Shares pulled down by miners

Close The Australian stockmarket has closed lower, with declines across all industry sectors as investors reacted to a weak finish on overseas markets on Friday.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 42 points, or 0.9 per cent, at 4830.2 points and the broader All Ordinaries index was down 42.6 points, or 0.9 per cent, at 4847.5.

Materials stocks fell 1.5 per cent, financials fell 0.8 per cent and industrials eased 0.3 per cent.

Traders said sentiment was unsettled after Asian stocks fell and on renewed concerns over Greece's debt problems ahead of a euro zone summit. There were also worries over India's move to raise rates last week.

'‘Sovereign risk has raised its head again and split the market when it probably shouldn’t, to this degree anyway,’’ Bell Potter senior adviser Stuart Smith said.

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The market opened down about 0.8 per cent at the start of trade and although it tried to make up ground during the day, rallies proved short-lived as investors displayed a lack of conviction about any upwards movement.

CMC Markets market analyst David Taylor said investors were mostly sitting on the sidelines with ‘‘little incentive to take up long positions’’.

‘‘The market was suffering fatigue and lacking nourishment from overseas markets,’’ Mr Taylor said.

Arrow bid disappoints investors

Arrow Energy fell 19 cents, or 3.6 per cent, to $5.10 after it said it had agreed to a fresh bid from Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina, raised by 6 per cent to $3.4 billion for its Australian assets.

Analysts had expected the final offer to touch at least $5 a share compared to the revised offer of $4.70.

‘‘I think the impression that Arrow were giving its constituents was that they wouldn’t to settle for anything under six dollars and were looking for something more,’’ Mr Smith said.‘‘That hasn’t happened and I think they were being a bit overzealous and running the risk of Shell walking away altogether.’’

Among the more substantial declines on the S&P/ASX50 were Incitec Pivot, down 17 cents, or 4.8 per cent, to $3.37, and WorleyParsons, which was 83 cents, or 3.17 per cent, lower at $25.39.

AXA Asia Pacific ended up 1 cent to $6.30 after National Australia Bank agreed to extend the terms deed for its bid to acquire AXA Asia Pacific until next Monday. NAB finished down 19 cents, or 0.7 per cent, to $26.71.

The other major Australian banks also ended weaker. ANZ was down 41 cents to $24.70, Commonwealth Bank was 46 cents weaker at $55.75 and Westpac fell 32 cents to $27.11.

The miners led the decline on the broader market, with BHP Billiton off 61 cents, or 1.4 per cent, to $42.59 and Rio Tinto down $1.16, or 1.5 per cent, to $75.03.

Stern Hu trial begins

The trial of Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu began today and company chief executive Tom Albanese told the China Development Forum in Beijing the miner would ‘‘respectfully await’’ the outcome of China’s legal process.

The Australian businessman is charged with taking bribes and infringing commercial secrets in relation to iron ore price talks last year.

In other news, Solomon Lew’s Premier Investments first half net profit dropped 13.7 per cent and said it was cautiously optimistic about the performance of Just Group. Premier was down 34 cents, or 3.8 per cent, to $8.67.

OneSteel said it had signed an agreement to acquire a scrap metal recycler Metals Trading, which had operations in New South Wales and Victoria. OneSteel was up early but finished down 6 cents at $3.86.

Lihir Gold was down 4 cents to $3.16, while Newcrest, which went ex-dividend on Monday, fell 26 cents to $33.43.

Supermarket chain Woolworths, which also went ex-dividend, slipped 35 cents, or 1.2 per cent, to $28.43.

The most traded stock by volume was public telecommunications provider pieNETWORKS, with 120 million shares worth $3.63 million changing hands. Its shares ended up 0.7 cent, or 28 per cent, to 3.2 cents.

Prelimnary market turnover was 2.2 billion shares worth $4.11 billion, with 387 stocks up, 662 down and 377 unchanged.

On Wall Street on Friday the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.4 per cent, snapping an eight-session rally. The S&P500 index backpedalled 0.5 per cent and the NASDAQ shed 0.7 per cent. It was also a poor night on commodities markets, with gold futures contract prices falling almost $US20 and silver, copper and crude oil prices weaker also.

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AAP, with BusinessDay