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June 25th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Posted
The share market has closed lower for the fourth day in a row and has now given up nearly all of this year’s gains.
The All Ordinaries index lost 0.4 per cent to close at 4,634.
The ASX 200 finished a third of a per cent lower at 4,656. That leaves it just 7 points higher than where it started the year.
Billabong had the biggest gains on the ASX 200 after the embattled surfwear company announced it was still in talks to pay off its debts, surging more than 46 per cent to a one-week high of 19 cents.
Billabong says the talks with two US-based companies are “well advanced”.
Gold miners were among the day’s big losers after the price of the precious metal tumbled overnight.
Australia’s biggest gold miner Newcrest fell 2.4 per cent to a 10-year low of $9.30, as the falling gold price hit the company’s bottom line.
There are reports it will cut more jobs at its Lihir gold mine in Papua New Guinea and it has announced an independent review of its disclosure practices.
Other mining stocks were under pressure after concerns about a credit crunch in China sparked a drop in commodity prices.
Rio Tinto lost 2.5 per cent to $50.24 and BHP Billiton fell 1.7 per cent.
Shares in the food maker Goodman Fielder rose nearly 5 per cent to 75 cents after the company announced it had renegotiated its deal to make home brand bread for Coles.
It also expects its second-half earnings to jump as much as 20 per cent as it overhauls its baking business.
The banks mostly advanced: Westpac fared the best, up 0.5 per cent to $27.70.
ANZ shares closed flat at $27.38 on the day a class action over bank penalty fees in New Zealand was filed against the bank in Auckland’s High Court.
Looking at commodities now, and spot gold dropped to $US1,281 an ounce.
West Texas crude oil rose slightly overnight to $US95.04 a barrel and Tapis crude oil was edging up to $US105.90 a barrel.
To currency trade: the dollar is relatively flat against the greenback after falling to just under 91.5 US cents overnight.
At 5pm (AEST) the dollar was buying 92.5 US cents and was fetching 70.4 euro cents, 90.1 Japanese yen and 59.9 British pence.
Topics:
stockmarket,
markets,
business-economics-and-finance,
mining-industry,
industry,
retail,
australia,
papua-new-guinea
Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-25/miners-under-pressure-as-share-market-continues-to-tumble/4779824
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