AUSTRALIA'S sharemarket suffered broad-based falls yesterday as investors took money off the table before the weekend.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index closed down 30.6 points, or 0.68 per cent, at 4493.5.
''The banks are all down, resources are down, the energy sector is not doing too well either … so it is a broad-based fall,'' said Burrell Stockbroking adviser Daniel Manley.
The big banks were all pushed lower, and Macquarie Group closed with a loss of $1.19, or more than 3 per cent, at $37.20 after it released commentary on its earnings. The stock had early sales down to $35.80.
''We are really seeing a complete lack of investor confidence (in Macquarie),'' Mr Manley said.
Commonwealth Bank fell 45¢ at $52.56, Westpac 26¢ to $23.99, National Australia Bank 20¢ to $25.13 and ANZ 14¢ to $23.05.
Miners were also dragged lower. At the close, BHP Billiton was off 34¢ at $40.12 and rival Rio Tinto was down 89¢, or 1.2 per cent, at $70.61.
Rio Tinto's 68 per cent-owned Energy Resources of Australia reported a plunge in half-year earnings, sending its shares down 56¢, or 3.9 per cent, to $13.78.
Gold producer Newcrest fell 1¢ to $32.71, while the company it is seeking to take over, Lihir Gold, firmed 1¢ to $4.07. The spot gold price edged up $US1.35 an ounce to $1169.85.
Energy producers were mostly lower, with Woodside Petroleum down 12¢ at $41.60 and Oil Search off 4¢ at $5.84.
Santos lost 27¢, or nearly 2 per cent, to close at $13.30 and Origin Energy fell 19¢ to $15.44. Origin said yesterday that annual sales revenue at its exploration and production business was at a record high.
Oil and gas producer AWE saw its shares lose 7.5¢, or 4.6 per cent, to $1.56 after it released June-quarter production figures.
There were mixed fortunes for grains marketers GrainCorp and AWB after they announced plans to merge.
AWB shares rose 3.5¢ to 99¢ but GrainCorp fell 37¢, or 6.2 per cent, to $5.65.
The media sector was not immune to the market selloff, with News Corp down 4¢ at $16.37 and its non-voting scrip down 15¢ at $14.42. Fairfax Media was down 1¢ at $1.475.
After solid gains during the week, Wesfarmers dropped 14¢ to $31.09 while Woolworths rose 23¢ to $25.79.
Among the department stores, Myer Holdings was up 2¢ at $3.45, David Jones was steady at $4.80 and Harvey Norman declined 9¢ to $3.50.
Telstra was the top-traded stock by volume, with 69.97 million shares changing hands worth $222.48 million. It closed down 1¢ at $3.22.
The dollar closed higher on expectations of weak economic data from the US. At the 5pm close, it was at US90.13¢, from Thursday's US89.92¢.
AAP
