Stocks weighed heavily by miners

The local market has ended firmly in the red, as BHP slid 2.94pc and falling oil prices hit energy stocks.

The local sharemarket has closed at a seven-week low, as significant falls by mining and energy heavyweights pulled the bourse into negative territory.

It came after oil prices fell overnight on news of a larger-than-expected increase in US crude oil inventories, which led to weakness in energy stocks on Wall Street. That trend was followed on the local market.

At the 4.15pm (AEST) official market close, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index had slipped 17.4 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 5,415.6 points -- its lowest close since July 14. The index is now down 1.8 per cent so far this week. Meanwhile, the broader All Ordinaries index was down 18.2 points, or 0.33 per cent, at 5,511.2.

The materials and energy sectors were each 1.7 per cent lower, and now sit down 4.3 per cent and 3.7 per cent this week, respectively.

IG market analyst Angus Nicholson said interest had returned to the markets after a slow summer period in the US, but there was little in the way of positive news.

“As the dog days of summer drew to a close, markets seemed to be steadily coming back into life yesterday, although not in the good way, more in the sell-off way,” he said.

“Oil prices saw their biggest collapse in a month, after US EIA crude oil inventories surged above market expectations to 2.3 million barrels.”

Among energy stocks, Woodside Petroleum and Oil Search each shed 1 per cent, to $28.35 and $6.66 respectively, while Santos slumped 3.15 per cent to $4.30 and Origin Energy backtracked 3.23 per cent to $5.09.

BHP Billiton was also one of the session’s worst performers, down 2.94 per cent to $19.83, while rival Rio Tinto gave up 1.41 per cent to $46.91.

South32 was 0.78 per cent lower at $1.90, while gold producer Newcrest Mining lost 2.25 per cent to $21.69.

But the major banks were mainly higher. ANZ Bank brightened for a second straight day, rising 0.59 per cent to $27.06. National Australia Bank added 0.33 per cent to $27.43 and Westpac eked out 0.14 per cent to $29.50. CBA was the laggard, following a downgrade from Morgan Stanley yesterday, and retreating 0.42 per cent to $71.51.

In the retail sector, the supermarket giants shrugged off a Moody’s report warning Coles and Woolworths could lose some of their high spending customers to David Jones’ new upmarket food stores. Woolworths made 0.8 per cent, to $23.91, while conglomerate Wesfarmers eked out 0.2 per cent, to $42.53.

with Dow Jones newswires