Shares down for third day in row

The stockmarket closed sharply lower yesterday, following weakness on United States markets and lower prices for oil, gold and base metals.
"The market seems to be quite concerned about US rates and US growth, and we've really seen companies with US dollar earnings hit quite hard," ABN Amro Morgans private client adviser Simon Ferguson said.
"It's just that the US market, pulling back after trying to rally the last couple of months, has spooked investors."
Mr Ferguson said lower prices for base metals had also knocked the mining stocks and there appeared to be some profit-taking among the oil stocks.
The high exchange rate of the Australian dollar against the US currency was also hurting stocks with earnings from the US.
The ASX 200 index was down 124.4 points, or almost 2 per cent, to 6184.2 while the All Ordinaries index fell 120.7 points, or 1.9 per cent, to 6216.6.
In the resources sector, global miner BHP Billiton fell 61c to $34.20 and Rio Tinto retreated $2.54 to $95.75.
Consolidated Minerals was 11c weaker at $3.02 as it said it had received no other takeover proposal, nor was it in talks with any party other than Pallinghurst Resources.
Woodside Petroleum dumped $1.29 to $44.40, Santos descended 49c to $13.80 and Oil Search lost 6c to $4.14.
National Australia Bank was off 86c at $40.15, the ANZ shed 58c to $28.65, Westpac gave away 43c to $25.17, and the Commonwealth fell 71c to $54.44.
St George Bank dropped 63c to $34.85 as it reaffirmed its guidance for the full year for residential lending and earnings per share growth.
In the gold sector, Newmont eased 3c to $4.54, Newcrest tumbled 71c to $22.86 and Lihir lost 10c at $2.91.
Retailer Coles Group was down 24c at $16.28 and supermarket rival Woolworths slumped 66c to $26.57.
Telstra fell 12c to $4.57 and the partly paids 13c to $3.08. Optus owner Singapore Telecommunications nudged up 1c to $2.63.
Loop Mobile, the provider of mobile-phone services for Big Brother, finished its first day on the stock exchange at 22c, 2c above its issue price.
News Corp fell 53c to $27.40 while its non-voters declined 47c to $25.44. Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd lost 30c to $19.35, and Fairfax lost 11c to $4.66.
Among other stocks, beverage maker Coca-Cola Amatil was down 28c to $8.99 despite its upgraded forecast for first half earnings.
Resource contracting and waste processor GRD soared 44c to $2.81 after Transfield Services made a preliminary tilt at the company. Transfield fell 51c to $10.75.
Australian Pharmaceutical Industries was 4c lower at $2.29 as rival and rejected suitor Sigma Pharmaceuticals downplayed reports that Sigma had renewed its interest in API. Sigma was 2c poorer at $2.18.
Financial software group MYOB scraped off 1c to $1.19 after it said its Asian operations helped boost group revenue and earnings in the first half.
National carrier Qantas was down 9c at $5.52 as it sold, for a slight profit, its 4.2 per cent stake in Air New Zealand.
Australian property funds manager Valad Property Group lost 8.43c to $1.95 as it raised $1.03 billion from the issue of new shares at $1.92 each to institutional shareholders.