Resources a drag on all the others

The Australian stockmarket closed weaker yesterday as resources stocks were pulled back by lower commodity prices and a sagging sharemarket in the United States.
CMC Markets market analyst David Land said the outlook for the resources sector was still reasonably strong but it was subject to occasional volatility.
"It was one of those days in terms of commodities where falls were seen across most areas of the sector: base metals, gold, oil," Mr Land said. "So it pretty much put people in a selling mood."
The ASX200 fell 24.2 points to 4879.7 and the All Ordinaries dropped 23.8 points to 4843.6.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index shed 25 points to 4880.
Mr Land said some stocks in the consumer sector had made good gains, including clothing retailer Just Group.
Just Group rose 11c to $3.24 as the company reported a 25 per cent jump in first half net profit despite a trading environment in which some of its peers have struggled.
In resources, global miner BHP Billiton shed 51c to $24 as it announced a shake-up of its top executives.
Rio Tinto retreated $1.25 to $69.60 and Alumina backtracked 25c to $6.68.
Oil and gas producer Woodside dropped 79c to $40.61, Santos fell 31c to $11.02 and Oil Search lost 3c to $3.70.
Among gold stocks, Newmont gave away 25c to $6.98, and Newcrest was 60c lower at $21.15. Bendigo lost 12c to $2.28.
The price of gold was $US556.65 per fine ounce, down $US10.45 on Monday's close.
In the banking sector, the NAB dipped 10c to $36.72, Westpac slipped 19c to $22.86, the Commonwealth dropped 25c to $43.45, and the ANZ inched up 1c to $25.70.
Among the telecoms, Hutchison lost 1c to 27c after posting a $547.30 million annual net loss. Telstra was off 2c at $3.86.
News Corp lifted 2c to $23.60 while its non-voters fell 2c to $22.20. PBL gained 5c to $17.52 as analysts backed its $1.2 billion acquisition of a Macau gaming sub-concession.
Regional TV provider Prime Television was steady at $3.32 as it banks on hit shows provided by affiliate Seven Network to offset a subdued advertising market this year.
Among the retailers, Woolworths put on 11c to $18.96, and Coles Myer eased 3c to $9.91.
Casino operator SkyCity Entertainment Group was off 6c at $4.43 as managing director Evan Davies fuelled takeover speculation for gaming firm UNiTAB, describing the two companies as "complementary". UNiTAB was up 1c at $13.62.
The top traded stock was explorer Lakes Oil, up 0.3c at 2.2c, on volume of 79.24 million.