daytrading oct 18 morning, page-69

Sydney - Tuesday - October 18: (RWE Aust Business News) - The Australian sharemarket slid lower in early trading today in the wake of Wall Street's 247-point retreat overnight.

After 45 minutes of trading the ASX 200 index had lost 62.3 points to 4213.1 and the All Ordinaries index was 62.7 points weaker at 4275.2.

The December SPI200 futures contract slid 69 points to 4215.

National Australia Bank fell 38c to $24.37, Commonwealth gave back 77c to $47.54, ANZ declined 18c to $21.18 and Westpac lost 23c to $21.76.

Miners were hard hit with BHP Billiton dropping 99c to $36.66, Rio Tinto slumped $2.50 to $67.45, Alumina tumbled 6c to $1.445, OZ Minerals gave back 27c to $11.30, Fortescue Metals plunged 35c to $4.76 and Newcrest was 48c in arrears at $36.37.

Macquarie Group fell 47c to $24.37, QBE lost 20c to $13.82, Macarthur Coal improved 5c to $16.11, Onesteel dropped 5c to $1.30, Boral was 12c behind at $3.39, Fairfax Media slid 2c to 89.5c, Flight Centre fell 42c to $18.42, Leighton declined 36c to $20.51, Qantas lost 4c to $1.50, Woolworths slipped 11c to $24.58, JB Hi-Fi rose 4c to $14.75, Foster's Group put on 1c to $5.30, Cochlear retreated $1.65 to $52.85, Woodside Petroleum gave back 37c to $35 and Origin Energy fell 21c to $14.18.

Telstra jumped 5c to $3.16 after saying it will maintain full-year dividend at 28c for this financial year and next, and is considering a $6 billion buy-back should the deal with NBN Co be approved at today's AGM.