Market slows as traders leave town

The sharemarket closed in positive territory after a day of consolidation following a strong lead from Wall Street on Friday.
The ASX 200 index closed up 20.1 points at 6267.3, while the All Ordinaries had gained 24.2 points to 6272.5.
Director of equities at Ausbil Dexia, John Grace, said trade would be quiet this week.
"There are not many people around Sydney and it's post-reporting season, so we're expecting a very quiet week," he said.
"There is some unwinding of some positions from last month."
Mr Grace said it was a positive day on the Australian market.
"Basically, it was a good consolidation day after a very strong Friday."
"There are a few ex-dividends accounting for a few points off the index, such as QBE Insurance Group and Caltex."
Mining company BHP Billiton was up 15c to $38.57 and Rio Tinto was 58c stronger at $94.10.
Leighton was a strong performer, up $2.86 to $46.70 after it announced it would merge its Gulf region division with Al Habtoor Engineering, investing $879 million for a 45 per cent stake in the new entity.
In economic news yesterday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics building approvals data for July revealed a rise of 0.4 per cent to 12,980 units, seasonally adjusted, from a 12,925 units, revised downward, in June.
ANZ job advertisements data for August showed the total number of jobs ads in major metropolitan newspapers and on the internet grew by 0.1 per cent in August to an average of 248,751 a week.
The big banks were mixed, with ANZ up 23c to $29.22, National Australia Bank losing 2c to $39.92, the Commonwealth up 12c to $55.27 and Westpac rising 21c to $27.41.
Shares in Challenger Financial Services jumped 8c to $5.52 after it announced it had bought Choice Aggregation Services, the owner of mortgage broker Choice Home Loans, for $163 million.
Shares in Multiplex Group gained 1c to $5.00. The company set to take over Multiplex, Brookfield BidCo (Australia) Pty Ltd, said it may have overstated how many shares it holds in the construction company due to an administrative error.
Symbion Health's shares rose 10c to $4.26 after Primary Health Care said it might launch a takeover offer for Symbion in conjunction with private equity. Primary was up 50c to $11.43.
In retail, Woolworths dipped 45c to $29.47, Coles was up 3c to $14.20, Harvey Norman gained 8c to $5.40 and David Jones was unchanged at $5.17.
The media sector was also mixed, with Fairfax dipping 4c to $4.60, PBL rising 8c to $18 and News Corp unchanged at $26.63 while its non-voters gained 18c to $24.88.
Entertainment company Village Roadshow has signed an agreement with Concord Music to form a new entertainment group, merging Concord with its Village Roadshow Pictures Group. Shares in Village rose 26c to $3.44.
Gambling house Tabcorp was up 26c to $15.55 and rival Tattersall's 6c stronger at $4.25.
Oil Search up 1c to $3.69, Woodside lost 15c to $45.15 and Santos shedding 17c to $13.08.
Goldminer Newmont was up 8c to $5.20, Newcrest was down 10 cents at $24.40 and Lihir was steady at $3.07.
Market turnover reached 2.06 billion shares worth $4.17 billion, with 686 stocks up, 531 down and 308 unchanged.