All Ords slips back under 5000 mark
The All Ordinaries index has slumped below 5000 points as falls in commodity prices caused investors to dump resource, gold and oil stocks.
Shaw Stockbroking's head dealer, Jamie Spiteri, said resource stocks contributed the most to the fall as the broader market was relatively steady.
"We've had considerable volatility across equity markets brought about by the increased volatility in recent weeks of commodity prices and today we're seeing the fallout of that volatility," Mr Spiteri said.
"The gold price took a big fall on Friday evening and subsequently in Asian trading here."
The ASX 200 fell 70.1 points to 5030.8 and the All Ords 73.9 to 4987.3. The All Ords last closed below 5000 points on March 23.
BHP Billiton fell 85c to $27.89 and Rio Tinto $3.08 to $75.22.
Zinc and lead miner Zinifex fell $1.61 or 14.9 per cent to $9.20, and copper and gold miner Oxiana 35c or 11.7 per cent to $2.63.
Oxiana was the top traded stock by volume, with 42.26 million shares worth $114.46 million changing hands.
Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum fell $1.50 to $41.65 and Santos 14c to $11.18.
In the gold sector, Newcrest fell $2.30 to $20.08 and Lihir 31c to $2.57 as the price of gold in Sydney closed at $US645.10 an ounce, down $US42.90 on Friday's close.
Among the banks, National Australia Bank fell 15c to $35.90, ANZ 11c to $26.10, Westpac 16c to $23.34 and Commonwealth Bank 14c to $44.85.
Media group PMP fell 2.5c to $1.50 as it said a new catalogue delivery system was expected to improve its bottom line.
Wheat exporter AWB rose 7c to $4.14 after it formed a partnership with New Zealand dairy group Fonterra to expand services to the dairy industry in Australia and New Zealand.
Domain-name registration firm Melbourne IT slipped 3c to $1.72 after saying it was set to acquire WebCentral.
Shares in newly floated junior oil and gas explorer Burleson Energy closed at 20c, the issue price.
Shares in Housewares International fell 32c or 17.8 per cent to $1.48 after it cut its profit guidancefor this financial year to $16-$18 million, down from a forecast of $20.5-$22.5 million.
Telstra was steady at $3.83.
Renewable fuel company Australian Biodiesel maintained its annual profit target at $8.173 million, in line with its prospectus forecast. The shares rose 3.5c to $1.50.
Uranium explorer Nova Energy, steady at $1.30, has been granted two exploration tenements in West Africa and is preparing to launch an exploration program.

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