ASX recovers some ground at the close after miners lead earlier falls

The Australian sharemarket closed slightly lower, recovering after an earlier $17bn slide led by big miners.

The market had shed more than $17bn by midday, but there was some recovery by the close. Picture: Bloomberg

The Australian sharemarket closed slightly lower, weighed down by falls in the share prices of the big miners, energy companies and a number of ex-dividend property, industrial, and utility stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed 16.8 points, or 0.25 per cent, lower at 6804.9 points on Monday, while the broader All Ordinaries was down 14.7 points, or 0.21 per cent, at 6921.6 points.

The Aussie dollar was stronger against the US dollar, up 0.16 per cent, buying US69.91c.

The market had shed more than $17bn by midday, but there was some recovery by the close, with mining giant BHP down 0.55 per cent to $39.42 and Rio Tinto 0.89 per cent lower to $101.60.

South32 fell 1.46 per cent to $2.70, Fortescue Metals was 1.09 per cent lower at $10.88, and BlueScope Steel dropped 0.84 per cent to $15.27. The big four banks started the day lower, but three of them recouped their losses to be higher at the close of trade.

ANZ was up 0.08 per cent at $24.80, Commonwealth Bank closed 0.04 per cent higher at $81.10, Westpac was up 0.29 per cent to $24.40, but NAB finished 0.16 per cent lower at $24.89.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank finished flat at $9.95, Bank of Queensland was down 0.27 per cent at $7.38 and Macquarie Group was down 0.83 per cent at $139.07.

Shares in real estate groups Stockland, Mirvac, Dexus, GPT Group, and Vicinity Centres - all of which went ex-dividend on Monday - fell by between 1.17 per cent and 3.07 per cent.

Toll road operator Transurban, Sydney Airport, and pipeline company APA also slipped, down by between 1.89 per cent and 4.25 per cent after delivering shareholders’ payouts.

Energy stocks were in the red despite a rise in oil prices, with Woodside, Oil Search, Origin, and Santos down by between 0.14 per cent and 0.67 per cent.

Telco Telstra fell 0.55 per cent to $3.64, while biotech giant CSL regained earlier losses to close 0.55 per cent higher to $281.96.

Among consumer staple shares, supermarket Woolworths was down 0.08 per cent at $37.44, while rival Coles was up 0.07 per cent at $15.34.

AAP