Buyer drought erodes shares

The drought, profit-taking and concerns about consumer price index data out today helped drive the Australian Stock Exchange lower despite record highs on Wall Street overnight.
At the close, the ASX 200 index was 16.4 points lower at 5317.1, while the All Ordinaries receded 15.3 points to 5288.4.
At 1615 AEST on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the December share price index contract was 31 points weaker at 5313, below the physical, on a volume of 13,470 contracts.
BHP Billiton lost 36c to $27.52 after news filtered through that it posted steep production declines in several metals and minerals.
Rio Tinto finished in the red after an early surge, closing down 30c at $76.75.
Copper and gold explorer Oxiana slipped 6c to $3.21 as it released news that gold production at its flagship Sepon project rose 30 per cent in the third quarter although there is no change to its forecast production for 2006.
ABN Amro Morgans client adviser Margaret Morrissey said the Reserve Bank would be waiting for the CPI figures today before deciding whether an interest rate rise was warranted next month.
"There has been a fair bit of profit-taking in the market," Ms Morrissey said. "People are a bit nervous about all this talk of an interest rate hike."
She said the drought was also affecting agricultural stocks such as Futuris, which dropped 13.5c to $1.74 despite telling its annual general meeting yesterday that its livestock and real estate operations had had a positive start to the year. ABB, the old Barley Board, fell 9c to $6.11. It was more than $7.70 six months ago.
In the US on Monday night, stocks rallied on optimism about the spending outlook of the world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart, and a belief that falling oil prices will boost consumer spending.
The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 114.54 points to 12,116.91, a record high.
Banks were mixed, NAB leading the way with a 29c lift to $37.95 and the Commonwealth rising 9c to $47.18.
But ANZ, which reports its annual results on Thursday, gave up 6c to $28.15, as did Westpac, which closed at $23.52.
Coles Myer firmed 5c to $13.45 and supermarket rival Woolworths fell 15c to $20.40.
Underwear and sport clothes maker Pacific Brands improved 7c to $2.59 after telling its annual general meeting that sales and profit growth for the first four months of the year were ahead of last year.