THE Australian sharemarket closed firmly in the red today after mining stocks led a broad-based decline, following a weakening of commodity prices overnight.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed down 72.4 points, or 1.52 per cent, at 4,702.2 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 68.1 points, or 1.42 per cent, to 4,721.2 points.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange at 4.15pm AEDT, the December share price index contract was 85 points lower at 4703 on 26,872 contracts.
"It has been a bit of a setback today, but I tell you it is a great contrast from what happened on Monday, which in turn was a contrast to what happened last Friday,'' said Austock Securities senior client adviser Michael Heffernan.
"You have got to expect the market to bounce around when you have had very strong performances over a period of time,'' Mr Heffernan said.
"We are taking another pause and a breath today."
He said big miners were hit hardest following weak commodity prices overnight.
"In the top 20 there is not one shred of green there,'' Mr Heffernan said.
At 4.15pm AEDT, shares in BHP Billiton were down $1.07 at $41.40 and Rio Tinto was $1.66 weaker at $71.85.
Gold stocks were lower, with Lihir Gold off 15 cents to $3.53, Newmont down 20 cents at $5.82 and Newcrest losing 89 cents at $38.30.
At 4.15pm AEDT the local spot price of gold was $US1,203.70 per fine ounce, down $US9.90 from yesterday's closing price of $1,213.60.
Energy stocks were mostly lower, with Woodside Petroleum down 26 cents to $49.10, Santos 25 cents lower at $14.90 and Origin Energy off 25 cents at $15.71.
Oil Search bucked the trend, rising two cents to $6.02.
Today Oil Search announced that China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) had signed a deal to buy 40 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Papua New Guinea LNG project during the next 20 years.
The PNG LNG project is a joint venture owned by operator Exxon Mobil, Santos Ltd, Oil Search Ltd, Nippon Oil, Resources Development Co and Petromin PNG Holdings.
Origin Energy Ltd today announced a deal with UK-based explorer Salamander Energy Plc to take interests in five gas exploration blocks in South East Asia.
Thermal coal explorer MetroCoal listed today and began trading at 20 cents - a five cent discount to its initial public offer price - before finishing the day at 18.5 cents.
The financials were also hit by the sell-off, led by National Australia Bank that lost 58 cents to $28.10.
Commonwealth Bank fell 15 cents to $53.96, ANZ dropped 22 cents to $21.98, Westpac was 42 cents weaker at $24.04 and Macquarie Group lost 62 cents to $48.47
Media stocks finished the day, with News Corp down six cents at $15.15 and the company's non-voting scrip off 15 cents at $12.70.
Fairfax shares dropped 5.5 cents to $1.635, while Consolidated Media rose one cent to $3.10.\
Retailers had a bad day, with Coles owner Wesfarmers down 50 cents to $28.80 and rival Woolworths down 14 cents to $28.70.
Myer shares lost one cent to $3.81, while David Jones fell 15 cents to $5.61.
Harvey Norman fell 17 cents to $4.30.
At 4.48 AEDT the top-traded stock by volume was Empire Oil and Gas, with 165.72 million shares worth $2.67 million changing hands.
Its shares ended the day even, at 1.5 cents.
Preliminary national turnover was 2.17 billion shares worth $4.18 billion, with 418 stocks up, 651 down and 336 unchanged.
