(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market closed lower for the sixth straight trading session on Friday. Wall Street’s triple-digit losses overnight prompted traders to sell their stocks. However, the market came off its lows for the session following a recovery among the big miners. Bank stocks led the decliners on growing concern about the turmoil in the financial markets all over the world.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed down 102.4 points or 2.1% at 4,877.1, recovering from an intraday drop of 2.9% to 4,837.6. For the week, the key index has lost 5%, extending this year’s retreat to 23%. The broader All Ordinaries index lost 101.4 points or 2.0% to finish at 4,949.5.

In the currency market, the Australian dollar closed at its weakest level in more than a year following a sharp fall on Wall Street. The local unit has now lost 17% against the U.S. dollar in less than two months after touching a 25-year, pre-float high of US$0.9849 on July 16. The Aussie finished the session at US$0.8175-0.8179, down sharply from Thursday’s close of US$0.8353-0.8357.

On Wednesday, the Dow and the broader S&P 500 indexes tumbled 3.0% each and the tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 3.2% after a government report showed that jobless claims rose more than analysts expected for the week ended August 30 and retailers reported sluggish same store sales for the month of August.

Oil prices fell for a sixth day on Thursday, closing at their lowest level in five months, as a lower-than-expected drop in U.S. stockpiles raised concerns about slowing demand for oil. In the Asian session Friday, oil held steady below $108 a barrel. At 2:08 a.m. ET, oil was down 10 cents at $107.79.

On the economic front, activity in Australia’s construction sector improved a little in August, but remained in a state of contraction for a sixth straight month. The Australian Industry Group and Housing Industry Association’s Performance of Construction Index or PCI for August moved up 1.5 points to 43.1. The reading was well below the 50.0 mark that distinguishes expansion from contraction.

Among banks, Commonwealth Bank of Australia dropped 3.1%, Westpac lost 2.8%, National Australia Bank plunged 4.3% and ANZ plummeted 3.9%. Takeover target St George Bank shed 2.5% and investment bank Macquarie Group tumbled 4.7%.

In the resources sector, index leader BHP Billiton slipped 0.3% and Rio Tinto declined 1.4%. Gold miners closed mixed, with Lihir Gold falling 4.0% and Newcrest Mining gaining 3.0%. Among energy stocks, Woodside Petroleum lost 0.8%, Oil Search plunged 3.9%, and Santos dropped 1.0%.

Retailers were also lower, with David Jones tumbling 3.0%, Coles owner Wesfarmers falling 2.8%, and Woolworths declining 1.4%.

Fertiliser and explosives maker Incitec Pivot plunged 7.9%. The company’s shareholders approved a plan to dilute its shares in a 20-for-1 split.

Linc Energy surged 43.0% after the company said that it sold coal exploration rights to Xinwen Mining Group of China for A$1.5 billion. Linc will also enter the benchmark index later this month after a rebalance by the index provider.

United Group gained 2.5% after the engineering firm said that it has won a contract to increase rail capacity in Queensland state worth A$250 million over five years.

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Posted in Categories: Australia, Economy, Releases, USA.

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