KEY POINTS:
MELBOURNE - The Australian share market closed sharply lower today, pulled down by a weak lead from United States and lower commodities prices that weighed upon resource stocks.
CMC Markets market analyst David Land said about three-quarters of the top-200 stocks on the Australian market were in negative territory today.
"It's not wildy surprising considering the leads that we had (from US markets) in trade overnight and a shift in the price of base metals," Mr Land said.
"That really was the key driver that we've seen for the day.
"So that resulted in a number of the big banks and (market heavyweight and global miner) BHP Billiton in lower territory."
Mr Land said there had been some concerns about the outlook for the US economy for some time, but of late they appeared to be having more of an effect upon the US market.
At the 1615 AEST close, the S&P/ASX200 index was down 59.4 points at 6180.7 while the all ordinaries shed 57.6 points to 6210.1.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the June share price index contract lost 66 points to 6185, on a volume of 25,159 contracts, according to preliminary calculations.
In the resources sector, BHP Billiton retreated 57 cents to A$32.79, while Rio Tinto fell 24 cents to A$92.01.
Among the major banks, the National Australia Bank sagged 18 cents to A$40.26, Westpac dumped 19 cents to A$25.33, the ANZ stepped back 35 cents to A$28.67, but the Commonwealth Bank firmed seven cents to A$53.82.
On Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 129.95 points to 13,295.01 as bond yields shot to their highest level in five years.
Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum lost 47 cents to A$42.68, and Santos gave away 21 cents to A$13.19.
In the gold sector, Newmont was off four cents at A$4.66, Newcrest descended 60 cents to A$22.80, and Lihir dipped four cents to A$3.08.
The price of gold in Sydney at 1630 AEST was USA$646.40 per fine ounce, down USA$6.95 on yesterday's close.
Among media stocks, News Corp was 29 cents weaker at A$28.03 while its non-voting stock was 35 cents lower at A$25.90.
Publishing and Broadcasting lost 16 cents to A$19.34, and Fairfax scraped off one cent to A$4.66.
Prime Television added four cents to A$3.69 as it was forced to lift its offer for filmmaker Becker Group for a second time.
Telco Telstra was off four cents at A$4.71, and Optus-owner Singapore Telcommunications was down four cents at A$2.62.
Retailer Coles Group was off 10 cents at A$16.44, and supermarket rival Woolworths dropped five cents to A$27.00.
Among other stocks, insurer QBE Insurance Group rose five cents to A$31.10 after it said claims made as a result of severe storms that lashed parts of NSW over the weekend were within its allowance for large losses and catastrophes.
Construction giant Leighton Holdings dipped 29 cents to A$43.98 despite winning two new mining services contracts in Indonesia worth close to US$700 million (A$834.38 million).
Troubled winemaker Evans & Tate remained in a trading halt after it said it had received an alternative offer for the financial restructure of the company, after the original restructure agreement with ANZ Banking Group was terminated last week.
Evans & Tate last traded at 15 cents.
Forest products firm Gunns was steady at A$3.34 after it said it would raise A$50.4 million through an issue of new shares to pay for its recent acquisition of a stake in timber products company Auspine Ltd.
Allco Finance Group nudged up one cent to A$11.09 after it launched a A$75 million wholesale property development fund.
Cattle producer Australian Agricultural Company fell 12 cents to A$2.72 after it told the stock market it had nothing to disclose to investors after a surge in its share price yesterday.
The top traded stock by volume was minerals explorer Sundance Resources, with 103.3 million shares worth A$35.95 million changing hands.
Sundance was up 9.5 cents at 39.5 cents.
Preliminary national turnover was 1.79 billion shares worth A$6.23 billion, with 868 stocks down, 452 up and 326 unchanged.
- AAP