Without miners, it's steady as she goes

The sharemarket finished marginally higher yesterday after a relatively steady day of trading, lacking the usual boost provided by the resource sector.
Softer metal prices pulled the big miners back after a flat lead from the US overnight.
The ASX 200 closed 1.8 points higher at 5325.8 while the All Ordinaries rose 2.4 points to 5275.9.
Shaw Stockbroking's Jamie Spiteri said the market was steady ahead of the federal budget. "Index-wise, [it is] probably one of the more steady days when you compare it to the recent volatility," he said.
BHP Billiton lost 39c to $31 while Rio Tinto slipped $1.14 to $84.55.
After oil prices fell overnight, Woodside Petroleum finished steady at $47.50. Santos gained 10c to $12.15 while Oil Search rose 8c to $4.53.
CBA fell 12c to $46.28, NAB was off 16c to $37.24, while Westpac picked up 16c to $24.77 and ANZ rose 9c to $28.29.
Toll Holdings said it had received strong support from investors for its $6 billion takeover bid for stevedore Patrick Corp after Macquarie Bank withdrew plans to make a counter takeover proposal.
Toll picked up 88c to $14.58 while Patrick pulled back 12c to $8.78 and Macquarie Bank weakened 84c to $70.16.
Uranium explorer U308 made a stunning debut, closing at 68c compared to its 20c issue price after opening at 70.5c and trading as high as 81.5c.
Shares in the Fiji-focused gold and copper explorer Geopacific Resources listed on the ASX on par to the issue price of 20c before falling back to close at 18.5c.
Meanwhile, Blue Chip Financial closed steady with its 74c issue price after listing at 80c.
Diversified explorer Echo Resources debuted on the ASX at 30c, up 5c on its issue price, before closing at 27c.
Centro Properties Group picked up 10c to $6.73 after it formed a $1 billion property fund following the $US524 million ($679.55 million) acquisition of seven US shopping centres from Westfield.
Westfield was up 34c to $17.45.
Incitec Pivot is acquiring ammonium phosphate fertilisers producer Southern Cross Fertilisers from BHP Billiton for $165 million. The news came as Orica announced it would sell its entire 70 per cent stake in Incitec, which was in a trading halt. Orica rose 59c to $25.67.
Retail stocks closed mixed with Woolworths off 5c to $18.93 while Coles Myer climbed 15c to $10.87 and David Jones added 12c to $2.84.
Telstra dipped 2c to $3.84 while Optus owner Singapore Telecom fell 2c to $2.25.
Hutchison Telecom, steady at 25c, will become the first mobile phone provider to move all its customers to the 3G network as it manoeuvres to keep ahead of other telcos.
Newcrest Mining tumbled 60c to $23.40, Newmont dipped 3c to $7.26 while Lihir Gold rose 1c to $3.36.