subject: Miners Drag Market To Lower Close [print this page] The Australian Coal Mill sharemarket was dragged into the red by mining stocks amid concerns about potential cooling of China's economy after its government tightened monetary policy.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 38.4 points, by 0.8 per cent, at 4763.1 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index shed 36 points, or 0.73 per cent, to 4872.6 points.
On the ASX 24 at 1.17pm, the March share price index futures contract was down 46 points at 4744 points, with 24,863 contracts traded.
CommSec market analyst Juliette Saly said floods in Queensland, Victoria and NSW hampered insurance stocks, but miners were the biggest weight on the market after the Chinese government's surprise decision to increase the deposit rates among banks.
Ms Saly said there were fears that a slowing of China's economy would dent demand for resources.
Among coal miners affected by the floods, Macarthur Coal was a poor performer, falling 21 cents, or 1.53 per cent, to $13.50.
"Most of them are coming back, though," Ms Saly said.
Diversified conglomerate Wesfarmers, which operates the Curragh coal mine in Queensland, was up six cents at $32.48.
BHP Billiton was down 55 cents, or 1.2 per cent, at $45.30 and Rio Tinto gave up $1.65, or 1.89 per cent, to $85.88.
Ms Saly said the market awaited an update from Insurance Australia Group and Suncorp Group on the estimated cost of the flood damage.
Suncorp, which has been sold off in recent weeks and is the insurer with the largest exposure to Queensland, was down 20 cents, or 2.38 per cent, at $8.20.
IAG backtracked four cents, Coal Gangue Crusher or 1.05 per cent, to $3.77 while QBE Insurance Group fell 11 cents to $18.10.
Ms Saly said banks were lower but defensive stocks such as Woolworths were higher.
Woolworths finished 15 cents firmer at $27.78.
Among the banks, National Australia Bank was down 21 cents at $24.16, ANZ was 34 cents lower at $22.71, Westpac eased 29 cents to $22.20 and Commonwealth Bank was 41 cents softer at $51.00 but Bank of Queensland inched one cent higher to $9.85.
Ms Saly said energy stocks were mixed after the oil price rose to 27-month highs.
Woodside was down 42 cents at $42.97, Oil Search was up three cents at $6.91 and Santos was eight cents stronger at $13.85.
Caltex was down 29 cents, or 2.06 per cent, at $13.82 after the Queensland floods forced it to close one of its main refineries in Brisbane last week.
Making headlines, AMP's $14.6 billion takeover of AXA Asia Pacific Holdings has been deemed fair and reasonable by AXA APH's independent expert.
Shares in AMP were steady at $5.18 while AXA shares inched one cent higher to $6.40.
A South Australian court has denied Straits Resources and its joint venture partner Argonaut Resources the right to explore a region around Lake Torrens.
Shares in Straits were steady at $2.37 while Argonaut shares plunged five cents, or 27.03 per cent, to 13.5 cents.
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1.41pm was US$1363.20 per fine ounce, down US$14.49 from Friday's closing price of US$1377.69.
Gold miner Newcrest was down 48 cents, or 1.25 per cent, at $37.81.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX100 index was gaming machine manufacturer Aristocrat Leisure, up 10 cents, or 3.33 per cent, at $3.10.
The worst performing stock in this index was rare earths mine developer Lynas Corporation, down eight cents, or 3.94 per cent, at $1.95.
South Africa-focused coal miner Continental Coal was the top traded stock by volume with 132.16 million shares worth $11.55 million changing hands.
Continental's shares were down 0.3 cents, or 3.45 per cent, at 8.4 cents.
Preliminary national turnover was 2.35 billion shares, worth $4.16 billion, with 523 stocks up, 645 down and 373 unchanged.
