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SYDNEY - The Australian share market closed lower today in a relatively uneventful session ahead of the US Federal Reserve's anticipated interest rate cut tomorrow night.
At the 1615 AEST close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell by 35.4 points to 6271.4 and the All Ordinaries lost 32 points to 6283.7.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the September share price index contract was 20 points lower at 6264 on a volume of 72,126 contracts.
The two mining giants were lower, with BHP Billiton down 58 cents to A$38.82, Rio Tinto closed A$1.24 lower to A$98.15.
Alumina was up one cent to A$7.03.
ABN Amro Morgans adviser Lisa Jarvis said the market was flat to negative as expected, with not much happening ahead of the US Federal Reserve announcement on interest rates.
"There is not a lot of action and no one is willing to take a punt," she said.
"No traders want to take a position before that because if they get things wrong, it could really screw things up for them.
"There is a negative lead from the US futures and we are not expecting much to happen overnight and not much to happen on the market here tomorrow either."
Mrs Jarvis said banks closed in the negative today, as merchant banks in the US reported their results this week.
"BHP Billiton was lower from the overnight close offshore and banks are a bit hesitant as well."
Macquarie Bank was down A$1.92 or 2.49 per cent to A$75.06.
Adelaide Bank took a substantial hit, down 96 cents or 6.11 per cent to A$14.74.
Commonwealth was down 32 cents to A$55.38, National Australia Bank was 58 cents lower to A$38.42, Westpac was down seven cents to A$27.08 and ANZ was 26 cents lower to A$28.45
Major movers up included Oil Search, which was up 45 cents or 11.69 per cent to A$4.30 after the company dismissed takeover talk, and Paladin had a positive day, climbing 43 cents or 6.86 per cent by close to A$6.70.
Gold miner Newcrest climbed A$2.2795 or 9.96 per cent to A$25.16 after a trading halt was lifted, and Lihir Gold rose 11 cents to A$3.49.
But Newmont Mining fell four cents to A$5.39.
At 1662 AEST the spot price of gold in Sydney was US$710.60 up US$5.10 compared with Friday's closing price of US$705.50.
Telstra closed three cents lower at A$4.41, as did the company's instalment receipts, down three cents to A$2.92.
News Corp was down 20 cents to A$26.30, the non-voting scrip lost 28 cents to A$24.61, while Fairfax fell four cents to A$4.43, Seven fell three cents to A$12.33, and Publishing and Broadcasting was down 21 cents to A$18.13.
Ten Network rose four cents to A$2.68.
Today's top traded stock by volume was technology company Mobi Ltd, with 69.4 million shares trading worth A$420,609.
Its shares fell 0.1 cents to 0.6 cents.
Preliminary turnover was 1.5 million shares worth A$5.13 billion, with 506 stocks up, 671 down and 328 steady.
- AAP