Banks lead shares down: data too good for comfort

The sharemarket closed in negative territory yesterday, with the banks weighing on the bourse amid renewed but stronger fears of a rise in interest rates soon.
The ASX 200 index closed 79.2 points lower at 5915.8, while the All Ordinaries fell 70.6 to 5908.2.
Austock Brokers senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said the banks dipped as strong economic data aggravated fears of an interest rate rise.
"The market was solidly down. It is what you'd call a red letter day and the banks have been major contributors to the downward trend," he said.
"I think that is largely due to figures on retail sales and building approvals that came out today, which were robust, better than expected and fuelling the possibility of interest rate rises.
"But I think the market will get over this one. Even if interest rates do go up, the economy is still in great shape, the figures today were symptomatic of a very strong economy."
The market got off to a poor start following a mixed lead from Wall Street on Friday night, the Dow finishing last week at 12,354.3, up just 5.6 and the S&P 500 index dropping 1.6 points to 1,420.8.
Locally, the big miners weren't much chop, with BHP Billiton slipping 54c to $29.35 and Rio Tinto falling $1.61 to $77.20.
The Commonwealth Bank dropped 66c to $49.60, the National shed 38c to $40.02, ANZ retreated 30c to $29.40 and Westpac tumbled 45c to $25.90.
St George fell 94c to $34.09 and takeover target Bendigo Bank was down 25c at $16.75. Its bidder, Bank of Queensland, was off 32c to $17.00.
Veda Advantage picked up 23c to $3.51 after the credit-ratings firm recommended shareholders accept a cash offer of $3.61 per unit from a private equity consortium.
Diversified property trust GPT Group dipped 6c to $4.88 after it launched a $2 billion wholesale shopping centre fund, trying to muscle further into the booming funds management business.
Rival Stockland was down 5c to $8.10 but Westfield was up 8c at $20.65.
Media was mixed. Fairfax gained 2c to $5, News Corp dropped 1c to $30.39, its non-voters were up 11c to $28.67 and PBL slipped 25c to $19.60.
Fairfax said it would sell some of its community newspapers in the Newcastle region after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission reported it had concerns about a concentration of newspaper ownership in the region.
Would-be Fairfax bride Rural Press was up 13c to $13.73.
The energy sector was mixed despite a drop in the oil price.
Santos rose 18c to $10.33 but Woodside retreated 79c to $38.70 and Oil Search shed 13c to $3.58.
Energy Resources of Australia shed $1.54 to $26.26 after the uranium miner forecast a significant decrease in production in 2008 after heavy rain at its Ranger mine in the NT.
The retailers were weaker, with Coles falling 14c to $16.11, Woolworths tumbling 59c to $26.60, Harvey Norman falling 13c to $4.59 and David Jones 5c lower at $4.50.