The Australian share market has closed weaker despite retracing some of its earlier losses as market enthusiasm for the potential policies of US president-elect Donald Trump moderates.
CMC Markets chief market strategist Michael McCarthy said that because the Republican Party controls the White House and both Houses of Congress in the US, the market believes that there is a strong ability for Mr Trump to execute policy initiatives that may be market-friendly.
“But there has been a moderation of that initial enthusiasm because we are starting to see the secondary effects,” Mr McCarthy said.
“In particular, that strong US dollar and the belting that that is giving commodity prices, and the potential for further appreciation, meaning investment flows are also attracted towards the US.”
On the local bourse on Tuesday, in the resources sector, global miner BHP Billiton fell 29 cents to $24.55, Rio Tinto dropped 49 cents to $58.95, Fortescue Metals lost 16 cents to $6.09, and South32 plunged 15 cents, or 5.42 per cent, to $2.62..
OZ Minerals jumped 36 cents, or 4.79 per cent, to $7.87 after it extended the life of its Prominent Hill copper and gold mine near Coober Pedy until at least 2028 after increasing its underground ore reserve estimate by more than 40 per cent.
Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum lifted 13 cents to $29.04, and Santos gained 18 cents to $4.00.
Amid the big banks, Westpac was up six cents at $30.96, National Australia Bank found three cents at $28.13, Commonwealth Bank advanced 25 cents to $76.43, but ANZ slipped 13 cents to $27.76 .
Among other stocks, poker machine supplier Ainsworth Game Technology scraped off 0.5 cents at $1.76 after it reaffirmed expectations of a sharp drop in its underlying profit for the first half of the 2017 financial year.
Broadcaster Nine Entertainment rose 2.5 cents to 94.5 cents despite forecasting continuing pressure in the advertising market.
Seven West Media improved 0.5 cents to 68 cents after its magazine publishing arm sold two youth titles and said it plans to focus on the digital edition of its popular Girlfriend brand.
Agribusiness Ruralco was steady at $3.15. Ruralco is expanding its insurance and retail operations as it seeks to turn around a 69 per cent fall in full-year profit.
KEY FACTS:
* On Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 19.5 points, or 0.36 per cent, at 5,326.2 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 20.5 points, or 0.38 per cent, at 5,399.8 points.
* The December share price index futures contract was down 27 points at 5,324 points, with 32,637 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 2.39 billion securities traded, worth $5.2 billion.
