Resources duo lead retreat as buyers take a breather

The stockmarket closed in negative territory yesterday with the big miners dragging the bourse into the red.
The ASX 200 index closed down 27.3 points at 5646.1 and the All Ordinaries dropped 24.3 to 5626.1.
Austock Brokers senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said the market got off to a poor start after a flat lead from Wall Street and because of mixed commodity prices overnight.
"We also had the late report from Rio Tinto which was a bit disappointing, most of the elements of its operations were lower than they were in the previous quarter and I think the market expected something better," he said.
"When you are in record territory you can't keep increasing every day, you have to have a breather, and we've had one today."
Rio Tinto shares dropped $1.20 to $71.30 while BHP Billiton fell 36c to $24.52.
Rio posted a mixed fourth production quarter for 2006 with an increase in iron ore and coal output but a drop in refined copper production.
"We've got the inflation figures coming out of the US tonight and if they are low that will give a real positive boost to the US market, which in turn should flow through to our market tomorrow," Mr Heffernan said.
The banks were weaker with ANZ slipping 22c to $27.78, the NAB 30c to $40.02, the Commonwealth 45c to $49.05 and Westpac 10c to $23.91.
Australia's largest retailer, Woolworths, fell 14c to $22.71 after saying it was seeking approval in New Zealand to buy The Warehouse Group. Warehouse lost 3c to $6.22.
Among the other retailers, Coles was down 10c to $13.90, Harvey Norman dropped 3c to $3.96 and David Jones gave up 9c to $4.26.
Building products and sugar company CSR closed up 21c at $3.89 after hitting $4.02 when it responded to market speculation it could be the subject of a private equity takeover offer, saying it was not aware of any impending bid for the company.
The energy sector was weaker with Woodside giving up 40c to $35.70, Santos slipping 15c to $9.60 and Oil Search dropping 11c to $3.26.
The media sector was mixed with News Corp rising 14c to $30.52 and its non-voting shares gaining 7c to $28.95.
Fairfax was down 7c at $4.80 and PBL fell 18c to $20.27.
The goldminers were mixed with Newcrest lifting 30c to $25.35, Newmont shedding 9c to $5.46 and Lihir steady at $2.95.
Sleep disorder equipment and services provider SomnoMed was the most traded stock on the market with 92 million shares changing hands worth $3.2 million. Its shares closed up 0.8c at 3.7c, the day's high.
Preliminary market turnover reached 1.44 billion shares worth a total value of $4.6 billion.