Aust stocks close flat

MELBOURNE - The Australian share market closed flat on Wednesday, giving up early gains after the release of disappointing retail sales figures.

At the 1615 AEST close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had dropped 1.6 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 4522.2, while the broader All Ordinaries had dipped 0.7 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 4527.1.

On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the September share price index futures contract was seven points lower at 4526 on a volume of 24,057 contracts, according to preliminary calculations.

CMC Markets market analyst David Taylor said trading started out fairly upbeat but fizzed after the latest retail sales figures came out below expectation.

"The market didn't like this news and gave up most of its gains for most of the afternoon," Mr Taylor said.

"Today's retail sales figures show that any recovery from a recession here in Australia will be patchy."

The Australian Bureau of Statistics released figures on Wednesday showing retail sales in July fell by 1 per cent. This compared with market expectations for a 0.5 per cent rise

The July fall follows a 0.8 per cent drop in June and comes after the latest Access Economics forecast of a tough 18 months ahead for retailers.

In the resources sector, global miner BHP Billiton was up 11 cents at $37.69 and Rio Tinto firmed 39 cents to $58.18.

Uranium explorer Paladin Energy was in a trading halt after it said it intended to undertake a capital raising to raise funds to grow the company or make acquisitions. Paladin last traded at $4.90.

Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum was 52 cents weaker at $47.30 and Santos retreated 13 cents to $15.13.

Among the major banks, National Australia Bank found 31 cents at $28.65, ANZ put on 25 cents to $22.20, Westpac ejected 27 cents at $24.27 and Commonwealth Bank eased 18 cents to $46.65.

On Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index rose 56.07 points, 0.59 per cent, to 9,497.34.

In the gold sector, Newmont fell eight cents to $5.38, Newcrest gained 51 cents to $34.26 and Lihir was steady at $3.09.

The price of gold in Sydney at 1619 AEST was US$1001.20 per fine ounce, down US$3.05 on yesterday's local close of US$1004.25.

Analysts have tipped gold to trade around US$1000 per ounce for a while, after coming within a whisker of historic highs.

Telco Telstra sagged three cents to $3.21 and Optus-owner Singapore Telecommunications was off eight cents at $2.59.

Retailer Woolworths ascended 11 cents to $28.30 and Wesfarmers, which owns Coles, improved 12 cents to $25.54.

In the media sector, News Corp lost 28 cents to $15.04 and its non-voting scrip dumped 34 cents to $12.84.

Consolidated Media nudged up one cent to $3.30 and Fairfax lifted 2.5 cents to $1.605.

Among other stocks, grains marketer and malt supplier ABB Grain rose 13 cents to $9.13 after shareholders voted in favour of a $1.6 billion takeover proposal by Canada's Viterra Inc.

Hearing implant company Cochlear was down $1.56 to $60.40 as it secured patent rights of US-based medical device company Otologics LLC for US$25 million (A$29.02 million).

The top-traded stock by volume was drilling services provider Boart Longyear, with 116.24 million shares worth $32.62 million changing hands.

Boart Longyear was steady at 27.5 cents.

Preliminary national turnover was 2.96 billion shares worth $6.28 billion, with 587 stocks up, 513 down and 355 unchanged.

- AAP