Threat to iron prices softens up market

The sharemarket closed weaker after the big mining stocks were hit by speculation that the Chinese Government could cap prices for iron ore.
The benchmark ASX 200 index ended the day down 6.7 points at 4873.0 while the All Ordinaries dropped 7.9 points to 4835.7.
Fat Prophets director Angus Geddes said reports that the Chinese Government was moving to prevent increases in contract iron ore prices had hurt the big miners, who were in negotiations with Asian steel mills.
"We have seen a lot of profit taking in the resource stocks and this is really in response to the uncertainty now around the iron ore negotiations," he said.
Heavyweight miner BHP Billiton fell 40c to $23.60 and Rio Tinto $1.65 to $67.95.
Mr Geddes said it appeared money had flowed from the miners to the banks. All four of the big banking stocks rose.
Westpac rose 23c to $23.09, Commonwealth Bank 25c to $43.70, ANZ 11c to $25.81 and National Australia Bank 8c to $36.80.
Qantas fell 3c to $3.94 as unions warned of a major industrial confrontation with the airline if it sends maintenance jobs offshore.
News Corp rose 3c to $23.63 and its non-voting stock climbed 19c to $22.39. John Fairfax rose 4c to $3.99.
In other media stocks, Seven Network rose 36c or 4 per cent to a record $9.27 after its interim profit rose 19.5 per cent to $65.5 million.
After the close of trade, Nine Network's owner, Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd, announced its first new directors since the death of Kerry Packer.
Investment banker Chris Mackay and Patrick Corp boss Chris Corrigan joined the board. PBL shares dipped 5c to $17.47.
Lower oil prices hit oil and gas stocks. Santos fell 5c to $10.97 and Woodside 66c to $39.95, despite announcing its North-West Shelf joint venture had signed a 12-year LNG contract.
The manoeuvring in the energy and utilities sector continued. Queensland Gas dipped 6.5c to 81.5c and its takeover target, Sydney Gas, slumped 6c to 35c before trading in both companies was halted.
Energy group Australian Gas Light slipped 29c to $18.39 after it told shareholders it would take time to properly consider Alinta's merger proposal.
Alinta shares also took a tumble, ending the day down 25c at $10.31.
Roc Oil fell 4c to $3.09 after reporting a $45.56 million net profit for 2005, a jump of 174 per cent from the prior year.
Macquarie Capital Alliance Group climbed 1.5c to $1.69 after the Macquarie Bank investment fund posted an interim net loss of $20.14 million.
Retailers were mixed. Coles Myer fell 7c to $9.84 while Woolworths rose 18c to $19.14.
The spot price of gold in Sydney ended at $US551.875 an ounce, down $US4.775 on Tuesday's local close.
The falling gold price hit gold stocks hard. Newcrest Mining fell 79c to $20.36, Newmont 16c to $6.82 and Lihir Gold 11c to $2.20.
Telstra slipped 3c to $3.83 and Optus owner Singapore Telecom fell 2c to $2.20.
The top traded stock by volume was Lion Energy with 50.62 million shares worth $203,000 changing hands. Its share price closed unchanged at 0.4c.