Aussie investors take the money and run

THE share market had its sharpest fall in seven weeks yesterday as profit-takers moved in, selling off across the market and dropping the benchmark index back under 6000 points.

At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 0.88 per cent, at 5968.7 points, after the index pushed through 6000 points on November 7, the first time it had achieved the mark in almost a decade.

Philip Capital senior adviser Michael Heffernan said an absence of positive local data and poor overnight leads led investors to cash in their October gains from the opening bell.

“The local market may have just run out of puff today and there is some merit to profittaking after such a strong run — the ASX has gained 6 per cent in six weeks,” Mr Heffernan said.

Information technology was the only sector not ending the session deep in the red, pulled up by Computershare’s 4.9 per cent rise to a record high of $15.93, after the share registry company upgraded its earnings forecast. Energy companies were strongly sold off despite strength in oil prices, with Woodside Petroleum down 3.2 per cent at $31.20, Oil Search 2.2 per cent weaker at $7.26 and Santos 2.2 per cent lower at $4.48.

In trade data, China’s retail sales rose 10 per cent for the year to October, while industrial output grew 6.2 per cent, both below market forecasts. BHP Billiton was down 1.2 per cent at $27.95, Rio Tinto fell 1 per cent to $73.04 and Fortescue Metals lost 1.7 per cent to $4.77.

The big banks fell in concert, with Westpac and ANZ down 1.1 per cent, Commonwealth Bank down 0.9 per cent and National Australia Bank 1.5 per cent weaker.