Close Australian stocks ended the day slightly in the red, pulled down after China's consumer inflation spike stoked fears its government would move soon to further curb bank lending.
At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 5.8 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 4814.2 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index lost 4.3 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 4825.5.
Materials stocks were 0.2 per cent lower, financials fell 0.3 per cent and energy shares shed 0.3 per cent.
Among retail stocks, Myer Holdings gave up early gains to end the day down 3 cents to $3.44 after it downgraded its full-year sales growth target.
Investors grew uneasy after China's CPI came in higher than expected at 2.7 per cent.
"The (Chinese) economy is clearly building steam," said CMC Markets analyst David Taylor. "The market now seems uneasy about further monetary tightening being implemented in an attempt to restrain inflation."
need2know:
- Asian shares fall on Chinese inflation
- The dollar slips to 91.4 US cents on jobs data
- Oil drops to $US81 as greenback strengthens
- Gold edges up towards $US1112
- Dow futures fall 21 points to 10,544
Putting the brakes on the Chinese economy could temper demand for resources from Australia, CMC's Mr Taylor said.
''I think the shift of investors into defensive plays today is reflective of a bit of nervousness around that,'' he said.
In the resources sector on the local bourse, global miner BHP Billiton ended 23 cents to $43.01 and Rio Tinto was up 20 cents to $75.55.
Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum eased 22 cents to $45.27 and Santos fell three cents to $13.87.
Cooper Energy was off 1.5 cents at 49.5 cents after it said flooding in the Cooper Basin was likely to affect its South Australian operations as roads were cut and oil fields isolated.
Among the major banks, National Australia Bank fell five cents to $26.75, Westpac lost 33 cents to $27.00, Commonwealth Bank added 11 cents to $55.80 and ANZ rose 12 cents at $24.06.
Gold, retailers, media
In the gold sector, Lihir was eight cents lower at $2.90 and Newcrest was down 28 cents to $33.90.
The price of gold at 1620 AEDT was $US1107.80 per fine ounce, down $US18.55 on Wednesday’s closing price of $US1126.35.
Woolworths was 16 cents richer at $28.36 and Wesfarmers, which owns Coles, ascended six cents to $32.29.
Telco Telstra was up eight cents to $3.07.
In the media sector, News Corp was four cents weaker at $18.26 and its non-voting stock lifted eight cents to $15.58.
Consolidated Media was steady at $3.19 and Fairfax gained 1.5 cents to $1.755.
IiNet, Centrebet
Among other stocks, internet service provider iiNet nudged up one cent to $2.24 after it said it was in talks with rival Netspace about a takeover.
Centro Retail Group was 0.5 cents lower at 16.5 cents after it appointed Robert Tsenin as chief executive.
Online wagering and gaming firm Centrebet International was down seven cents to $1.70 after it said it first became aware of takeover proposals in February but only told the market this week for reasons of confidentiality.
The top-traded stock by volume was information technology firm Mooter Media, with 160.5 million shares worth $3.13 million changing hands.
Mooter was 0.2 cents higher at 1.9 cents.
Preliminary national turnover was 2.42 billion shares worth $4.83 billion, with 494 stocks up, 546 down and 382 unchanged.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index futures
contract was down seven points at 4,812 points on volume of 29,958
contracts, according to preliminary calculations.
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