Australian shares posted a third consecutive trading day of losses as optimism evaporated about the eurozone debt deal after Greece’s call for a referendum on the plan.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed down 48.3 points, or 1.14 per cent, at 4,184.6 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 45.9 points, or 1.07 per cent, at 4,251.3 points.
The December share price index futures contract was 62 points lower at 4,168 points, on volume of 46,139 contracts.
Much of the gains of last week have been wiped out by Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s call for a referendum on the EU bailout.
“It’s created another element of uncertainty and has also pushed back the date when everything should be all hunky dory,” CommSec market analyst Steve Daghlian told AAP.
“This referendum is expected to probably take place some point early next year, it just really pushes things further back.
“That’s exactly what’s happened to us, we’ve taken on that lead but are not doing quite as badly though.”
Australian shares are down about three per cent so far this week, with French, Greek, German and Italian markets falling last night.
The financial sector was one of the worst performing sectors on the local market on Wednesday.
Even though it posted a 10 per cent rise in net profit to $6.99 billion, Westpac was down 42 cents, or 1.91 per cent, at $21.52 after earlier plunging more than four per cent.
ANZ was down 46 cents, or 2.15 per cent, at $20.90; Commonwealth Bank lost 48 cents, or 0.99 per cent, to $48.22; and NAB was 19 cents lower at $24.91.
Resources stocks were also weaker, with BHP Billiton down 22 cents at $36.55 and Rio Tinto 75 cents lower at $66.40.
OneSteel had a horror day shedding 21.5 cents, or 17.92 per cent, to 98.5 cents after the steel-maker cut its earnings guidance because of the weaker iron ore price and stronger Australian dollar.
Fellow steelmaker BlueScope Steel dropped 5.5 cents, or 6.6 per cent, to 78 cents.
Woolworths on Wednesday said it had launched a wholesale review of its supermarket marketing resources and strategy to help accelerate sales growth.
Its shares were down 28 cents to $23.39, while rival Coles owner Wesfarmers shed 31 cents to $31.88.
Property developer Mirvac Group fell 2.5 cents to $1.245 after re-affirming its earnings forecast of between 10.5 and 10.6 cents per stapled security.
Gold miner Newcrest was one of the rare stocks to post a gain, up 45 cents, or 1.36 per cent, at $33.65.
The spot price of gold in Sydney finished at $US1,724.85, up $6.32 from Tuesday’s local close of $US1,718.53 per fine ounce.
National turnover was 1.58 billion shares worth $4.83 billion, with 304 shares up, 688 down and 312 unchanged.
