The Australian sharemarket closed lower yesterday after weakness among the big banks and global miner BHP Billiton and a negative lead from Wall Street.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 43.3 points, or 1.22per cent, at 3497.4.
The broader All Ordinaries index fell 34.6 points, or 0.99 per cent, to 3443.5.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index futures contract was 33 points lower at 3460 on a volume of 20,794 contracts.
ABN Amro Morgans private client adviser Peter Knight said there were several factors affecting the market yesterday.
''You've got Rio [Tinto] up based on talks with Chinalco, so that's driving a bit of the market, and there's some general weakness throughout the banks but nothing too drastic,'' Mr Knight said.
''Obviously all the leads we had on Friday were a bit negative, and BHP's down, too, so that's what's doing the damage today.''
In the resources sector, Rio Tinto jumped $2.30, or 5.46 per cent, to $44.45, after it confirmed talks with major shareholder Chinalco about a capital injection and asset sales as the company worked to reduce debt.
BHP Billiton fell 50c to close at $30.
Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum dropped 3c to $35.35 and Santos fell 18c to $14.19.
Among gold stocks, Newcrest said it planned to raise $500 million to repay debt and to fund expansion and potential acquisitions. Newcrest was in a trading halt and last traded at $31. Lihir gained 2c to $3.15 and Newmont increased 20c to $6.39.
The price of gold in Sydney was $US913.90 a fine ounce, up $US8.10 on Friday's close of $US905.80.
Among the major banks, National Australia Bank lost 22c to close at $18.71, Westpac fell 33c to $15.31, Commonwealth Bank dropped 45c to close at $26.45 and ANZ dropped 1c to finish at $13.26.
In the media sector, News Corp fell 86c to $11.15, while its non-voting scrip was down 89c to close at $9.90. Consolidated Media was 13c lower at $1.80 and Fairfax dropped 8.5c to finish at $1.32.
Telco Telstra lost 6c to close at $3.73 and Optus-owner Singapore Telecommunications fell 5c to $2.73. Retailer Woolworths dropped 55c to finish at $27.15 and Wesfarmers, which owns Coles, fell 31c to close at $15.24.
Property owner and developer Stockland was steady at $3.64 after it sold three commercial office buildings for $95.1million and below book value.
The top-traded stock by volume was Macquarie Office Trust, with 34.7 million shares worth $7million changing hands.
National turnover was 918.6million shares worth $2.57billion, with 325 stocks up, 504 down and 265 unchanged.
The Australian dollar closed at a 10-week low as expectations of another big rate cut and poor economic data battered the local currency.
Commonwealth Bank currency strategist Joseph Capurso said negative housing data in Australia and a slump in South Korea's exports had investors selling the Australian dollar. ''It is not good news if you are worried about consumer spending, as consumer wealth is a big influence on consumer spending,'' he said. AAP