Resource groups drag bourse lower

The sharemarket closed lower, with weakness in big mining stocks raining on Wednesday's parade of record highs.
The ASX 200 fell 7 points to 5276.9 and the All Ordinaries lost 7.4 points to 5225.8.
ABN Amro Morgans private client adviser Kylie Macdonald said major resources stocks had pulled the bourse lower, along with some of the banks.
BHP Billiton fell 25c to $31 and Rio Tinto plunged $1.71 to $83.60 despite reporting an increase in first quarter production of most of its key commodities.
Woodside Petroleum gave up 29c to $48.80 after the oil and gas producer said cyclones north west of Western Australia had affected its first quarter production rates. Santos fell 8c to $12.27 but Oil Search added 6c to $4.44.
Westpac sank 25c to $24.51, NAB dipped 3c to $37.33, ANZ eased 2c to $27.38 and St George fell 20c to $30.40. CBA rose 8c to $46.58.
Some of the goldminers provided a bit of brightness with Newmont gaining 14c to $7.78 and Lihir Gold rising 9c to $3.12.
John Fairfax boss David Kirk said the newspaper publisher would continue to look for ways to cut costs across its business. Fairfax shares rose 4c to $3.91.
Telstra rose 8c to $3.75. Merrill Lynch has warned that the telecom group might not get much extra benefit from the $3 billion roll-out of a new broadband network.
Incitec Pivot fell 16c to $19.54. The fertiliser producer will close its Cockle Creek plant near Newcastle by September 2009, meaning the loss of 25 jobs.
Chiquita Brands South Pacific fell 4c to 55c after lowering its earnings forecast by up to $4 million for the current financial year because of the impact of Cyclone Larry on its banana crop.
InterMet Resources made a strong debut, closing at 26.5c, compared with its 20c issue price. The most actively traded stock by volume was Range Resources with 101.1 million shares worth $4.99 million changing hands as shares in the minerals explorer rose 1.2c to 5c.