Wall St lead no corrective to profit-takers

THE Australian sharemarket closed mildly weaker after losing momentum through the trading day on profit-taking, despite a strong performance on Wall Street.

After opening 0.7 per cent higher, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 13.8 points, or 0.3per cent, weaker at 4617.5.

On Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1.37 per cent at 10,753.62 on news that the US had come out of recession in June last year.

Austock Securities senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said the market fared well even though it finished in the red.

‘‘Going down by a cigarette paper is neither here nor there, frankly,’’ Mr Heffernan said. ‘‘The more important thing is that we’re building on the strong performance we’ve seen over the last six weeks. That’s really the message of the day, in the absence of any major corporate and economic news.’’

He said trading started off fine but was sent lower on profit-taking.

BHP Billiton was down 6¢ at $38.72 while Rio Tinto climbed 25¢ to $75.23. Fortescue fell 3¢ to $4.85.

Among energy stocks, Woodside was 15¢ dearer at $43.75, Oil Search gained 9¢ to $6.06, Origin Energy lost 11¢ to $15.84 and Santos fell 8¢ to $12.85.

An October interest rate rise was back on the cards yesterday after the RBA published the minutes of its September 3 board meeting. The minutes showed increased concern by the RBA board about the effect of the mining boom on inflation.

ANZ announced it would begin lending and banking operations in China on October 1 after its wholly owned ANZ Bank China Company received regulatory approval. Its closed 16¢ lower at $23.80.