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The local share market has suffered its biggest weekly fall in six months after closing down another quarter of a per cent today.
The All Ordinaries retreated 11 points to 4,360 while the ASX 200 lost 12 points to 4,337.
The stalemate in the US over government debt, the eurozone slipping back into recession and Greece edging toward default, all weighed on local trade.
The banks led the declines; ANZ suffering the sharpest fall down 1.6 per cent while NAB saw small gains early before finshing down slightly.
While the resource sector retreated as a whole, the major miners ended mixed as higher iron ore prices lent support to some.
BHP Billiton retreated a third of a per cent, while Rio Tinto was slightly higher.
Whitehaven Coal lost almost 2 per cent after the company announced a decision to scale back its business development unit and Brisbane presence.
Bank executive pay was back in the headlines today after ANZ chief executive Mike Smith saw his annual pay rise 4 per cent to above $ 10 million due to bonuses, making him the best paid banker in the land.
ANZ had promised to freeze the pay of its top executives, so his base salary remained at $ 3.15 million for the year; the rest was made up with bonuses.
The International Monetary Fund, meanwhile, has issued a glowing report on Australia.
It has backed the Federal Government’s pursuit of a budget surplus, but says it should consider shelving the plan if the economic outlook worsens.
The IMF also approved of the Reserve Bank’s cash rate decisions but says there is room to cut further.
It recommends some improvements in the banking system though, calling for the major banks to increase reserves, undergo tougher stress tests and pay for their government guarantees.
The Australian dollar continued to slide and was worth 103.2 US cents about 5.15pm (AEDT).
It was also buying 80.7 euro cents, 65 British pence and 83.5 Japanese yen.
West Texas crudes was down slightly to $ US85.50 a barrel, Tapis dropped $ 4 a barrel to $ US111, while spot gold was down to $ US1,714 an ounce.
Topics: markets, currency, business-economics-and-finance, australia
Market suffers biggest weekly fall in months
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