The big miners and banks are dragging the share market lower as investors take profits from recent gains and exercise caution due to concerns about Greece’s debts.
A fall in BHP Billiton’s share price, despite an overnight rise in base metal prices, is a sign of profit taking after several days of gains, Patersons Securities economist Tony Farnham said.
“It’s had a good run up; people have said, `now’s an opportunity to realise some of those profits’,” he said.
Australian Stock Report head of research Chris Conway said concerns about Greece were worrying investors, after International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde slammed it for trying to delay debt repayments.
“There’s probably some general market jitters on the back of the Greece situation,” he said.
“It’s the entire market that’s a little bit jittery.”
BHP Billiton was down 26 cents at $29.97, Rio Tinto was down 86 cents at $55.01 and Fortescue Metals had slipped 8.5 cents to $1.87.
Energy stocks were boosted by higher oil prices, with Woodside Petroleum up 21 cents at $35.69, while Santos had gained seven cents to $8.00 despite suffering a 24 per cent plunge in quarterly sales revenue.
Whitehaven Coal was up 3.5 cents at $1.575 after increasing its full year production target by 200,000 tonnes after a boost in March quarter production.
Among the banks, Commonwealth Bank was down 55 cents at $92.46, National Australia Bank had lost 40 cents to $38.91, ANZ had dropped 33 cents to $35.69 and Westpac was 32 cents lower at $38.95.
KEY FACTS
* At 1200 AEST on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 44.2 points, or 0.74 per cent, at 5,903.3 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 41 points, or 0.69 per cent, at 5,876.6 points.
* The June share price index futures contract was down 53 points at 5,891 points, with 14,709 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 629 million securities worth $1.4 billion.
