Bourse weathers wall street fall

AUSTRALIAN shares have closed lower in the wake of another overnight collapse on Wall Street but local losses were relatively contained as many Asian markets tumbled steeply.

The ASX200 was down 0.9 per cent at 5838.0 points, leaving it down 4.6 per cent for the week.

In late trading, Japan’s Nikkei was down 3.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 3.6 per cent lower, and the Shanghai Composite Index had retreated 4.5 per cent.

National Australia Bank closed 1c higher at $28.91, a day after returning a 3 per cent improvement on firstquarter cash earnings, while Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and the ANZ all lost between 0.2 per cent and 0.4 per cent. Elsewhere, oil prices continued to lose ground, pushing Woodside down 1.6 per cent and Santos down 2.2 per cent.

Origin Energy ended 4.1 per cent lower at $8.41, after flagging a $533 million first-half hit from impairment charges at its Ironbark gas field and its recently sold Lattice Energy business.

Iron ore players BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were both around 1 per cent lower at $29.13 and $76.86 respectively despite a rising ore price, while Fortescue gained 0.6 per cent to $5.03. As investors looked to safe-haven assets, the gold miner Evolution gained 4.5 per cent.

The Aussie dollar was trading at 77.77 US cents at 1630 yesterday, from 78.25 US cents on Thursday.