The Australian share market has faded into the red after a positive start, dragged back by the absence of a lead from US markets, and investor fatigue.
US markets were closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving public holiday.
Phillip Capital senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said the local bourse was not down by a significant amount on a day when there were no major drivers.
“We had no lead from America, but European markets were quite okay,” Mr Heffernan said.
“I think it’s just a bit of fatigue after a pretty reasonable period that we’ve had over the last two weeks.
“There’s nothing majorly negative, as I see it, going on.”
Mr Heffernan said market attention had been focused on law firm Slater and Gordon which lost another 27 per cent in value after 51 per cent was hacked off on Thursday.
Slater and Gordon fell 25 cents to 69 cents.
Investors have reacted negatively to UK government proposals that would change the rights of people injured in road accidents in Britain. Slater and Gordon has a significant personal injury law practice in the UK.
In the resources sector, global miner BHP Billiton dropped 17 cents to $18.77.
Rio Tinto lost 26 cents to $46.23 as the company announced a $2.6 billion development of its bauxite operations in far north Queensland.
Fortescue Metals dipped two cents to $2.06.
Among the major banks, National Australia Bank was steady at $29.69, Westpac added three cents to $32.12, Commonwealth Bank eased 10 cents to $80.12, and ANZ slipped 22 cents to $27.34.
Accessories retailer Oroton surged 24 cents, or 9.23 per cent, to $2.84 on news of positive like-for-like sales over the past 17 weeks.
Toll road operator Transurban put on 22.8 cents to $10.51. Transurban resumed trading after a halt so that it could raise money to part-fund its purchase of Brisbane’s AirportLinkM7 tunnel.
KEY FACTS
* On Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 8.1 points, or 0.16 per cent, at 5,202.6 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 8.3 points, or 0.16 per cent, at 5,251.4 points.
* The December share price index futures contract was down 19 points at 5,207 points, with 18,415 contracts traded.
* The price of gold in Sydney at 1700 AEDT was $US1,068.33 per fine ounce, down $US4.06 on Thursday’s price of $US1,072.39.
* National turnover was 2.4 billion securities worth $5.5 billion.
