Cashing in before the holiday break

A Flurry of profit taking ahead of the Easter break combined with a weaker Wall Street overnight to send the sharemarket backwards yesterday.
The ASX 200 fell 49.8 points to 5183.7 and the All Ordinaries slipped 46.8 to 5140.0.
There were few stocks that escaped the downward trend and the big mining houses led the fall. Rio Tinto fell $2.08 to $82.60, while BHP Billiton dropped 75c to $29.49.
ABN Amro Morgan client adviser Margaret Morrissey said: "With Easter ahead of us people are cashing in.
"The American market was off overnight and there were weaker oil and gold prices."
Oil and gas producer Woodside gave up 55c to $46.55. Santos was down 11c at $11.95 and Oil Search fell 7c to $4.17. Even little Beach Petroleum lost 1.5c to $1.375.
In the banks, Westpac rose 4c to $24.38 and ANZ was up 10c at $27.04 but NAB lost 37c to $36.77 and the Commonwealth fell 34c to $45.66.
John Fairfax lost 4c to $3.93 and PBL tumbled 15c to $18.30.
Telstra eased 1c to $3.65 as did Optus parent Singapore Telecom to $2.27.
Qantas, which signed an agreement with Air New Zealand that will see the airlines work together on networks, schedules, pricing and marketing initiatives for their Tasman operations, rose 1c to $3.49. Air NZ fell 1.5c to $1.095.
The Toll/Patrick takeover battle ground on with Patrick saying it will be ready to dispatch an updated target's statement to shareholders next week.
Toll shed 22c to $13.22 and Patrick added 4c to $8.06.
In the retail sector, Harvey Norman finished up 5c at $3.86, after reporting a 12.5 per cent rise in sales to $3.41 billion for the nine months to March 31. It had struggled in the morning and hit $3.76.
Coles Myer, which goes ex-dividend of 19.5c today, fell 6c to $11.15. Woolworths lost 18c to $18.56.
Building products and sugar company CSR edged up 1c to $4.05 after settling an asbestos litigation case that spanned more than a decade with 48 insurers in Australia, the UK and Europe.
CSR will receive a total of about $103.3 million before June 10 under the settlement which, after legal costs, will add $93 million to its profits.
Investa Property fell 2c to $2.18. The group has appointed the current chairman, John Arthur, as its new chief executive to replace outgoing founder Chris O'Donnell.
Multiplex closed steady at $2.92. The beleaguered construction group has obtained waivers from banks after breaching its covenants.
Brokers upgraded their earnings forecasts for Foster's after the brewer and winemaker sold its brand name in Europe for $750 million. The shares fell 2c to $5.65.
Among the goldminers, Newcrest Mining fell 36c to $22.83, Newmont dropped 25c to $7.08 and Lihir Gold dipped 5c to $2.89. Bendigo Mining, though, was up 2c to $2.30.
The top traded stock was Flinders Diamonds, with 44 million shares worth $1.12 million changing hands. The stock jumped 1c or 62.5 per cent to 2.6c.