Sub-prime worries still spooking Australian bourse

PERTH - The Australian sharemarket closed in negative territory as concerns over the fallout from the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US continued to spook the local bourse.

At the close, the S&P/ASX200 index was 46.8 points lower at 5964.8.

CMC Markets analyst David Land said selling in the finance sector weighed on the bourse, with volatility in the market expected to continue for some time.

"There has been quite a bit of selling focus on the finance sector and that is really creating most of the negative weight," Land said.

"The volatility remains such an uncertainty at the moment simply because no one is exactly sure how much more weight is going to come on the market as a result of the new information coming in about the sub-prime issue.

The big miners were mixed with Rio Tinto up US$2.05 at US$86.05 and BHP Billiton losing A8c to US$35.06.

Leighton Holdings lost A$2 to A$40.65 despite the engineering and construction company delivering a 63 per cent increase in full-year net profit to A$450 million.

Consumer electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi gained A$1.23 to A$11.35 after booking an annual net profit of A$40.4 million - up 56.5 per cent on the prior year.

- AAP