The Australian share market ended the day lower, over renewed investor jitters about the health of the United States banking sector.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed down 0.6%, or 23.3 points, at 3867.1 after rising in early trade, while the broader All Ordinaries index was also down 0.6%, or 22.1 points, at 3840.1.
Materials was the worst-performing sub-index on the market, down 1.8%. Energy was down 0.7% but financials was up 0.2%.
The Australian dollar fell, and was recently buying 73.70 US cents, down from yesterday's local close of 73.97 US cents. It was also buying 72.21 yen, 55.46 euro cents, 48.99 pence and $NZ1.275.
So-called stress tests by the US Federal Reserve on the 19 biggest banks in the US are set to be released on Thursday evening.
Media reports published during the day speculated that Bank of America, which is one of the banks subjected to the stress tests, requires about $US34 billion in new capital, sending shares lower.
Dow futures plunged on the report and ASX futures also turned lower, falling 32 points to 3852. But Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 0.2% at 16.465.40. Japan's stock market is closed for a public hoilday.
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IG Markets research analyst Ben Potter said local investors had decided to take profits soon after the media reports on Bank of America surfaced.
However, the drop in the market was nowhere near as bad as it might have been had the media reports been made six months ago.
"People are generally pretty risk-averse ahead of the official release of these results on Thursday night,'' Mr Potter said. "There's a lack of buying today.
"The market seems to be quite happy to do nothing for the next 24 or 48 hours until they get the official reading on these stress tests.''
Westpac bucks trend
Westpac was the stand-out performer on the market, adding the most to the benchmark index.
The bank reported a 1.2% fall in first half net profit and said it is well placed to weather the current challenging market conditions. Its shares were up 46 cents, or 2.4%, at $19.96 after rising as much as 3% in morning trade.
Among the other major banks, the Commonwealth Bank was down 20 cents, or 0.5%, at $36.02, ANZ was up 9 cents, or 0.5%, at $16.64 and NAB rose 12 cents, or 0.5%, to $21.87.
Resource stocks tumbled after the Reuters/Jefferies CRB index of commodity prices fell 0.2% overnight.
BHP Billiton fell 58 cents, or 1.7%, to $33.90 and Rio Tinto was down $1.87, or 2.6%, at $69.11.
Fortescue Metals Group was down 8 cents, or 3.2%, at $2.40 and OZ Minerals lost 7 cents, or 8.5%, to 75 cents. BlueScope Steel was still in a trading halt pending a capital raising.
In the news today, building products group Boral has sold its stake in Adelaide Brighton. Boral was up 4 cents, or 0.9%, at $4.51 and Adelaide Brighton was down 15 cents, or 6.5%, at $2.15.
Elsewhere in the financial sector, investment bank Macquarie Group was down 88 cents, or 2.5%, at $34.40 and second-tier bank Suncorp Metway was up 22 cents, or 3.7%, at $6.10.
AXA Asia Pacific was down 7 cents, or 1.7%, at $4.13 and AMP lost 1 cent, or 0.2%, to $5.49.
QBE Insurance was up 14 cents, or 0.7%, at $21.69 and IOOF was up 4 cents, or 0.9%, at $4.35.
Gold price drop hurts shares
Spot gold fell overnight and was recently up 14 US cents at $US903.30 an ounce.
Among the gold miners, Newmont was down 5 cents, or 0.9%, at $5.50, Newcrest was down $1.05, or 3.3%, at $30.45 and Lihir Gold was down 1 cent, or 0.3%, at $2.95.
Nymex crude oil futures were up 10 US cents in recent trade at $US53.94 a barrel.
Woodside Petroleum was down 13 cents, or 0.3%, at $42.00, Santos was down 37 cents, or 2.2%, at $16.54 and Oil Search was up 2 cents, or 0.4%, at $5.26.
Origin Energy was flat at $16.30 and AGL was down 23 cents, or 1.5%, at $14.65. Macarthur Coal was up 5 cents, or 1.1%, at $4.73.
Retailers for sale
Retail stocks were lower despite surprisingly strong retail sales in March.
David Jones was down 4 cents, or 1.2%, at $3.28 after reporting a smaller-than-expected fall in sales.
Woolworths was down 9 cents, or 0.3%, at $26.16, while Wesfarmers, which owns Coles and Bunnings, plunged $1.02, or 4.4%, to $22.25.
Harvey Norman was down 13 cents, or 3.9%, at $3.20 and JB Hi Fi was down 91 cents, or 6.5%, at $13.01.
Shopping centre operator Westfield was down 12 cents, or 1.1%, at $10.69 after reaffirming guidance for its fiscal 2009 operationing earnings and distribution.
Lend Lease was up 27 cents, or 3.8%, at $7.39 and Stockland was down 16 cents, or 4.8%, at $3.14.
Chemical company Orica was up 22 cents, or 1.2%, at $19.12, while building products group James Hardie was down 9 cents, or 1.8%, at $4.91.
Among the airlines, Qantas was down 7 cents, or 3.2%, at $2.08 and Virgin Blue was down half a cent, or 1.7%, at 29.5 cents.
Macquarie Airports was up half a cent, or 0.3%, at $1.91 while ports operator Asciano lost 7.5 cents, or 5.3%, to $1.345. Logistics company Brambles was down 5 cents, or 0.8%, at $6.20.
Goodman Group lost 2.5 cents, or 6.3%, to 37 cents after announcing the sale of non-core assets.
Coca-Cola Amatil added 12 cents, or 1.4%, to $9.00 and Foster's Group was up 2 cents, or 0.4%, at $5.20.
Media stocks slip
Among media stocks, News Corp lost 46 cents, or 3.3%, to $13.29 and Fairfax Media lost 2 cents, or 1.8%, to $1.07.
APN News & Media was down 9 cents, or 6.4%, at $1.32 and West Australian Newspapers lost 49 cents, or 10.1%, to $4.38. Macquarie Media was up 1 cent, or 0.7%, at $1.51.
Ten Network was down 3 cents, or 3%, at 95.5 cents and Seven Network lost 19 cents, or 3.1%, to $5.86.
The telecoms sub-index was the best berformer on the market, up 1.9%, with Telstra rising 5 cents, or 1.6%, to $3.25 and Optus-owner SingTel up 11 cents, or 4.7%, at $2.44.
Macquarie Communications was up 4 cents, or 1.8%, at $2.33.
The health sub-index was down 0.5%. CSL lost 15 cents, or 0.4%, to $33.50, ResMed was up 15 cents, or 2.9%, at $5.33 and Primary Health was up 2 cents, or 0.4%, at $4.52.
Gaming company Tabcorp was up 3 cents, or 0.4%, at $7.28 and Crown added 4 cents, or 0.5%, to $7.49.
The information technology sub-index was up 0.9%. ComputerShare was up 6 cents, or 0.6%, at $9.55.
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