KEY POINTS:
The Australian share market closed in the red today for the seventh session in a row, with cautious investors remaining uncommitted about reentering the bourse.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished 39.5 points weaker to 6176.9, while the All Ordinaries had fallen 36 points to 6244.8.
However, on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the December share price index contract, which expires today, was up 27 points to 6240 on a volume of 16,532 contracts.
The new March contract was down 49 points to 6175 on 28,864 contracts at 1616 AEDT.
CommSec market analyst Juliette Saly said the banking sector performed poorly today as the woes of debt-stretched Centro Properties Group showed the sub-prime crisis had hit our shores.
"Centro Properties and its retail fund were up, however," Ms Saly said.
Centro Properties closed 11.5 cents higher to $1.32, while Centro Retail Group was up seven cents to 82 cents.
"The miners were not doing too well despite higher base metal prices from London ... and there was also weakness in the insurance sector," Ms Saly said.
"A standout performer today was BlueScope Steel, which announced its US$730 million (A$851.86 million) purchase of IMSA Steel Corp, accelerating its push into North America."
Shares in BlueScope closed 26 cents stronger to $9.26.
The big miners were weaker. BHP Billiton shed 55 cents to $39.50 while takeover target Rio Tinto had dipped $2.34 to $128.00.
In the US overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average settled 25.20 points lower at 13,207.27 and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed down 1.98 points at 1,453.00. The Nasdaq Composite Index, however, finished trading 4.98 points stronger at 2,601.01.
The big banks were mixed. ANZ was steady at $26.85, National Australia Bank had lost 27 cents to $36.48, Westpac had dropped 49 cents to $27.30, Commonwealth had fallen 75 cents to $57.78 and St George was 62 cents weaker to $31.98.
The energy sector was mixed. Woodside Petroleum was down 40 cents to $46.00 and Santos had dipped 12 cents to $13.00 but Oil Search had found four cents to $4.57
The spot price of gold was US$800.50 per fine ounce, down US$1.05 from yesterday's closing price in Sydney of US$801.55.
The gold miners were mixed. Newcrest Mining lost $1.56 to $29.00, Newmont Mining's shares had edged one cent higher to $5.56 and Lihir Gold had firmed five cents to $3.21.
The media sector was also mixed. News Corp had gained eight cents to $24.19 and its non-voting scrip was up nine cents to $23.42, while Fairfax Media had shed four cents to $4.47 and Consolidated Media was steady at $4.30.
Of the main retailers, Woolworths had gained 18 cents to $33.35, Wesfarmers had dropped 66 cents to $40.00, Harvey Norman had shed 14 cents to $6.43 and up-market department store chain David Jones had edged one cent lower to $5.13.
Making headlines today, Insurance Australia Group looks set to report a fall in its 2007/08 annual profit of between 13 and 18 per cent, according to three separate broking houses. Its shares closed five cents weaker to $4.08.
Rail and ports operator, Asciano, moved to offload its stake in pallet provider, Brambles, sending the company's shares up 11 cents to $7.04.
Shares in Brambles fell six cents to $11.67.
Shares in Macquarie Airports jumped eight cents to $3.97 after it said traffic volumes at Sydney, Brussels, Bristol and Copenhagen airports all increased in November.
The top traded stock on the market today was Centro Properties, with 114.95 million shares changing hands worth $157.17 million.
Overall, market turnover was 2.18 billion shares worth $11.83 billion, with 523 stocks higher, 715 lower and 345 unchanged.
-AAP