Australian shares are weaker as continuing uncertainly in Washington causes commodity price falls, impacting local mining stocks.
Gold, copper and oil prices fell as the lingering partial US government shutdown stirred worries about demand for raw materials, Baillieu Holst director Richard Morrow said.
“There’s a bit of concern about global growth as a follow through from the imbroglio in Washington, so that’s impacting on the materials sector in particular,” he said.
BHP Billiton had shed 38 cents to $34.45, Rio Tinto eased 28 cents to $59.92, but Fortescue Metals added 7.5 cents to $4.855.
Gold stocks were punished, with Newcrest Mining down 31.5 cents, or 2.88 per cent, at $10.615.
Investors appeared to overlook good news showing Australia’s jobless rate fell to 5.6 per cent in September, down from 5.8 per cent in August.
“The over-arching concern is what’s happening in America and these little side issues like whether Australian unemployment moves a nano point or not is of little consequence,” Mr Holst said.
The major banks were mixed, with ANZ up 12.5 cents to $30.575, Westpac up six cents to $32.23, National Australia Bank flat at $34.26 and Commonwealth Bank down 10 cents to $70.92.
Bank of Queensland gained 71 cents to $11.16 after lifting its full year cash profit to $251 million, due to a reduction in bad debts.
KEY FACTS
* On Thursday at 1200 AEDT, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 11.6 points, or 0.23 per cent, at 5,141.4 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 10.3 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 5,141.3 points.
* The December share price index futures contract was down five points at 5,135 points, with 11,037 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 571.4 million securities worth $1.05 billion.
