Shares down only slightly after rollercoaster ride for market
It was a rollercoaster ride for the Australian share market on Tuesday, with stocks falling sharply before recovering to close only marginally lower.
The market traded as much as 1.3 per cent lower during the day but closed less than 0.2 per cent down, almost in line with falls on Wall Street overnight.
The All Ordinaries index slipped eight points to finish the session at 5,285 and the ASX 200 shed nine points to 5,284.
The market fell despite a bumper day for mining stocks; Rio Tinto shares led the way, rising 4.3 per cent.
It was the miner's biggest single-day gain in more than a year, as investors reacted to news Rio knocked back a merger proposal from smaller firm Glencore in August.
Among the other miners, BHP Billiton added 1.7 per cent and Fortescue Metals Group jumped 4.25 per cent.
The finance sector was among those that weighed on the market; NAB closed 1 per cent down, the Commonwealth fell 0.5 per cent and ANZ down 0.1 per cent, while Westpac was steady.
Healthcare stocks were also heavily sold, with private hospital firm Ramsay and Primary Health Care each falling 1.6 per cent.
The Reserve Bank surprised no-one by keeping the official interest rate on hold at 2.5 per cent for a 13th consecutive board meeting.
The central bank repeated its mantra of "interest rate stability" but suggested the Australian dollar might still be overvalued despite its fall over the past month.
The local currency dipped briefly on the rates decision but by 5:00pm (AEDT) had recovered to 87.7 US cents, 69.5 euro cents, 54.5 British pence, 95.3 Japanese yen and 112 New Zealand cents.
West Texas crude oil was selling for $US90.28 cents a barrel, Tapis oil in Singapore was worth $US95.36 cents a barrel and spot gold was trading around $US1,204 an ounce.
