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Telcos, miners drag market lower

Thursday November 5, 2009, 6:00 pm

Telcos and miners led falls on the ASX, while Transurban surged on takeover manoeuvres and the department stores battled it out on sales.

Overall, the All Ordinaries index slipped 28 points to 4,519, while the ASX 200 lost 0.7 per cent to close at 4,508.

Major movers

The biggest mover on the ASX 200 was Transurban. It rejected a $5.25 per share takeover offer from two Canadian pension funds, and investors pushed the company's stock up almost 20 per cent to $5.24 in anticipation of a better offer being submitted.Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation also gained 2.5 per cent after announcing an 11 per cent profit rise in the first quarter which resulted in the company upgrading its forecasts.But first quarter sales results from Australia's two main department stores disappointed. David Jones shares fell 4.2 per cent to $5.19.Myer shares slipped 2.1 per cent, even though its sales increased more than DJs.ANZ fell 2.9 per cent after market rumours that it may soon sell some new securities.BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto fell 1.4 and 1.3 per cent respectively.Telstra slipped 1.9 per cent to close at $3.17.

World markets

Regional markets were also generally weaker.In Tokyo, the Nikkei finished down 1.3 per cent.Hong Kong's Hang Seng was 0.7 per cent lower at 5:40pm (AEDT).The Shanghai composite index slipped 0.8 per cent.Singapore's main share index was down 12 points to 2,636.

US share futures are currently pointing towards a slightly weaker open, while European markets are expected to have moderate early falls.

West Texas crude oil was fetching $US79.72 a barrel at 5:40pm (AEDT), while Tapis was worth $US80.81.

Gold remains close to record prices at $US1,086.38 an ounce.

The Australian dollar remains fairly stable above 90 US cents, at 5:40pm it was worth:90.62 US cents81.97 Japanese yen61.08 euro cents54.93 British pence1.2594 New Zealand dollars

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