The Australian share market has closed lower led by heavy falls from oil and gas producers and the major miners.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.79 per cent at the close with most sectors in negative territory, including the big four banks.
Morgans senior private client adviser Bill Chatterton said positive leads from Wall Street, which finished at record highs on Friday night, Australian time, did not rub off on the local bourse as concerns about commodity prices dominated its movements on Monday.
“Across the board, no sector did super well today. The banks were also weaker while the oil producers and resource stocks took a big hit,” Mr Chatterton said.
“There’s some concern about whether the major oil producing nations will agree to reduce production.”
Global oil prices fell nearly four per cent in the lead up to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) meeting in Vienna on November 30 to discuss trimming output.
The energy sector closed nearly two per cent, while the mining-related materials sector fell 1.29 per cent and the financials were down 0.98 per cent.
Woodside Petroleum declined 71 cents, or 2.3 per cent, to $30.39, Santos fell 11 cents, or 2.6 per cent, to $4.08, Oil Search dropped 21 cents, or three per cent, to $6.73 and Origin Energy dropped seven cents, or 1.2 per cent, to $6.00.
As for the major miners, BHP Billiton fell 69 cents, or 2.6 per cent, to $25.81, and Rio Tinto was down 71 cents, or 1.2 per cent, to $61.05.
Among the banks, Commonwealth Bank was down 88 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $77.29, ANZ fell 37 cents, or 1.3 per cent, to $27.91, National Australia Bank decreased 39 cents, or 1.3 per cent, to $28.62 and Westpac was 36 cents, or 1.1 per cent, weaker at $31.17.
Bucking the broader market trend was Metcash, which rose 8.5 cents, or 4.3 per cent, to $2.06, despite the independent supermarkets supplier posting a sharp drop in its half-year profit.
The group did flag a better second half and said it expects to resume dividend payments in 2017/18.
JB Hi-Fi has completed its $870 million takeover of whitegoods retailer The Good Guys. Its shares were down 28 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $26.22.
The telecommunications and utilities sector closed higher with Telstra gaining one cent at $5.04 and AGL up two cents at $20.92.
KEY FACTS:
* At 1615 AEDT, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 43.4 points, or 0.79 per cent, at 5,464.4 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 37.9 points, or 0.68 per cent, at 5,532.6 points.
* The December share price index futures contract was down 48 points at 5,466 points, with 26,428 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 2.6 billion securities traded, worth $4.5 billion.
