Proactiveinvestors recommends

Additional Information

Market:	ASX 200
Sector:	Investments and Funds
EPIC:	XJO

1 year chart

1 day chart

Australia Market Wrap

A summary of all the major stories on the Australian Stock Exchange

Aussie resource stocks slam market into reverse

Thursday, January 08, 2009 by Proactiveinvestors

Finally local shares caught the sell-off fever, following large gains since November. Overnight falls on Wall Street and falling commodity prices left little direction for the market to go – but down.

Asian markets all reversed course with Hong Kong and Japanese markets down over three per cent respectively.

The S&P/ASX 200 closed down 85.4 points, or 2.3%, at 3694.3.

Miners – sold off amidst profit taking

Overnight falls in the price of oil and most commodity prices sent investors to the sell-side of their mining investments. Very few mining stocks increased in a reminder of the bad old days of 2008.

BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP)was down $1.85, or 5.67%, to $30.75, Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO)lost $2.01, or 4.28%, to $44.92, Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG) fell 18 cents, or 7.9%, at $2.09 and Mirabela Nickel (ASX:MBN) was steady at $1.60.

Gold stocks were also sold down as gold retreated overnight. Lihir Gold (ASX:LGL) gave up 14 cents, or 5.36%, to $2.47 and Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) lost $1.44, or 4.85%, to $28.25.

Oil stocks were falling all day, Santos (ASX:STO) was down 49 cents, or 3.22%, to $14.72 and Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL) was $2.17, or 5.6%, to $36.60.

Banks down - but treated less harshly

Bank stocks were weaker as ANZ Bank (ASX:ANZ) lost 17 cents to $15.18, Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) was down 38 cents to $28.57, NAB (ASX:NAB) lost 13 cents to $20.76 and Westpac (ASX:WBC) fell 27 cents at $16.60. Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) was hammered $1.93, or 5.72%, to $31.82 after warning of a tough fourth quarter.

Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) bucked the trend, up 25 cents at $25.87 and Harvey Norman (ASX:HVN) lost nine cents to $2.51.

The Australian dollar lost a lot of ground falling back to 70 US cents.

No investment advice

The Company is a publisher and is not registered with or authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). You understand and agree that no content published on the Site constitutes a recommendation that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable or advisable for any specific person. You further understand that none of the information providers or their affiliates will advise you personally concerning the nature, potential, advisability, value or suitability of any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, investment strategy, or other matter.

You understand that the Site may contain opinions from time to time with regard to securities mentioned in other products, including company related products, and that those opinions may be different from those obtained by using another product related to the Company. You understand and agree that contributors may write about securities in which they or their firms have a position, and that they may trade such securities for their own account. In cases where the position is held at the time of publication and such position is known to the Company, appropriate disclosure is made. However, you understand and agree that at the time of any transaction that you make, one or more contributors may have a position in the securities written about. You understand that price and other data is supplied by sources believed to be reliable, that the calculations herein are made using such data, and that neither such data nor such calculations are guaranteed by these sources, the Company, the information providers or any other person or entity, and may not be complete or accurate.

From time to time, reference may be made in our marketing materials to prior articles and opinions we have published. These references may be selective, may reference only a portion of an article or recommendation, and are likely not to be current. As markets change continuously, previously published information and data may not be current and should not be relied upon.