Fat chickens go for the December fare

The sharemarket took its biggest single day dive in a month yesterday as investors sold off resource and banking stocks to liberate some cash for Christmas.
In its third day of falls, the ASX 200 benchmark index dropped 54.7 points to 4580.1 while the All Ordinaries slipped even further from the 4600 mark and lost 51.3 points to 4532.3.
Resources and banking stocks have been the main forces behind the market all year and, while investors often rotate out of one sector and into the other, yesterday they sold off both.
BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and the four big banks together accounted for more than half the fall in the market.
"The banks and resources have got an increasing weighting to our index so when they are both going the same way it shows up significantly," Shaw Stockbroking institutional broker Jamie Spiteri said.
BHP dropped 37c to $21.50, Rio Tinto fell $1.36 to $60.40 and Westpac had the heaviest loss of the banks, down 44c to $22.
Mr Spiteri said it was no surprise the market was down, given that Rio Tinto had sold down its 15 per cent stake in Lihir Gold on Wednesday and Woodside Petroleum yesterday offloaded its 10.3 per cent share in oil and gas explorer Hardman Resources.
"It gives the impression that the major houses are taking the view that rather than looking towards further growth opportunities and smaller equity plays, their money is best used in cash to further enhance production in their existing businesses," Mr Spiteri said.
Lihir Gold dived 27c to $2.08, which is 7c below what Citigroup paid Rio Tinto for its 15 per cent stake. No wonder it wanted the trading halt extended.
Goldminers Newcrest lost $1.04 to $20.16 and Newmont 12c to $6.28.
"Not forgetting it is the first of the month, people are raising cash to pay for things," ABN Amro trader Justin Gallagher said. "And if you're looking to raise money all those big liquid names are the ones people are raising cash in to pay for Lihir and Hardman and all the other equity raisings that are going on."
Goldman Sachs JBWere traders estimated the December floats, in particular SPC Ausnet, Spark and Goodman Fielder, had a market capitalisation of $5.7 billion.
"Instos know that to try and raise any cash in the market after mid-December is near impossible, [so] if they feel they need excess cash, then the next two weeks will be the critical time for any selling," the Goldmans traders said.
The market has been edging close to record levels but Mr Spiteri said there was no new encouraging news to push it ahead.
"The Australian market is going through difficulty surpassing record levels given the corporate and economic environment," he said.