Punters take profits - and a breather

The sharemarket took a breather yesterday amid profit taking after a weaker lead from Wall Street overnight.
Heavyweight stocks such as Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton were lower while the big banks were mixed.
ABN Amro Morgans private client adviser Bill Bishop said the market took its lead from the US.
"There's been a bit of profit taking here today," Mr Bishop said. "Resources were down but then they've had a pretty good gallop recently.
"National Australia Bank was also lower but the market quite liked the result."
The ASX 200 dropped 28.4 points to 4526.1 while the All Ordinaries closed down 24.9 points to 4476.3.
In the banks, NAB fell 47c to $33.18 after reporting a 30 per cent jump in net profit to $4.13 billion for 2004-05 while warning that lending conditions would not be as strong in the coming year.
ANZ slid 23c to $23.05 and Westpac fell 5c to $21.62 but the Commonwealth rose 14c to $40.53.
Rio Tinto lost 55c to $59.25 and BHP Billiton 32c to $21.03. Woodside Petroleum fell 38c to $32.90, Santos was down 24c to $11.22 and Oil Search dipped 1c to $3.24.
PBL tumbled 20c to $16.55 and shares in John Fairfax lost 17c to $4.11.
Airline Regional Express listed at $1.05, compared to its $1 issue price, then closed at 97.5c.
Qantas dropped 3c to $3.51 but Virgin Blue lifted 1.5c to $1.52.
Telstra lost 1c to $4.18 while Singapore Telecom shed 3c to $1.92 ahead of its second quarter results today.
Retailers were mixed with Woolworths up 8c to $16.86, David Jones off 6c to $2.40 and Coles Myer 10c weaker at $9.98. Coles will sell six of its nine Megamart stores to Harvey Norman, with the remaining three stores to close.
Printer and publisher PMP shares fell 12c to $1.35 after the company gave shareholders a disappointing outlook at its annual meeting yesterday.
Share registry operator Computershare rose 15c to $6.77 after saying it was on track to post record revenue figures this year as it continues its rapid global expansion.
Melbourne IT rose 9c to $1.235. The internet solutions provider said it expected higher sales and earnings for the full year to December 31.
Lihir Gold was up 2.5c to $1.87.