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August 28th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Updated
Concerns about possible military action in Syria have rocked markets, sparking a sell-off on the Australian share market and pushed oil prices higher.
The All Ordinaries Index lost 53 points to close at 5,078 and the ASX 200 index declined by 54 points to 5,087.
Around 5:00pm West Texas crude oil was worth just bellow its high for the year – sitting at $US109.06 a barrel – and Tapis crude oil had surged to $US123.85 a barrel.
Companies that announced large profits today were among the few to survive unscathed.
Energy company AGL rallied 4.9 per cent to $15.08 after announcing that its profits tripled last financial year to just under $389 million, helped by the acquisition of the Loy Yang power station in Victoria.
AGL said proposed exclusion zones for coal seam gas exploration within two kilometres of residential areas forced it to halve the value of its coal seam gas sites in the NSW Hunter Valley, Gloucester and Camden.
Shares in the supermarket giant Woolworths rose by 2 per cent to close on $34.59 after it reported a 24 per cent rise in full-year net profit, helped by growth in its food, liquor and gaming divisions.
Profit from continuing operations rose by 3.3 per cent.
Its main rival Wesfarmers, which owns Coles, made a gain of 4 cents.
Mining stocks took a hit from falling copper prices, with BHP Billiton losing 2.25 per cent to $34.80 and Rio Tinto giving back 2.6 per cent.
The major lenders fared little better. Commonwealth Bank was the worst hit, down 1.7 per cent to $72.25.
Spot gold had pushed past a three-month high to reach a price $US1429 an ounce around 5:00pm (AEST)
The dollar touched a three-week low against the greenback, buying 89.1 US cents, 66.6 euro cents, 86.7 Japanese yen and 57.4 British pence.
Topics:
stockmarket,
markets,
business-economics-and-finance,
mining-industry,
industry,
australia
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Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-28/share-market-closes-down-on-syria-concerns/4919564
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