Sydney - Monday - October 3: (RWE Aust Business News) - The Australian sharemarket fell sharply this morning in the wake of Wall Street's 241-point retreat at week's end.
At midday the ASX 200 index was down 88.8 points at 3919.8 and the All Ordinaries index had dropped 86.8 points to 3983.3.
The December SPI200 contract fell 73 points to 3927.
Trading was quiet due to public holidays in several states with turnover of just under $1 billion after two hours, comprising 1259 rises, 543 falls and 225 steadies.
BHP Billiton was the busiest stock by value with trading worth $99,000 and fell 71c to 34.31.
Rio Tinto lost $1.61 to $60.19, OZ Minerals slumped 37c to $9.05, Atlas Iron was 6c lower at $2.79 and Newcrest declined 57c to $33.51.
Among the banks National fell 58c to $21.79, Commonwealth dropped $1.15 to $44.40, ANZ gave back 47c to $19.05 and Westpac slid 67c to $19.67.
Macquarie Group plunged $1.33 to $21.54, AMP tumbled 13c to $3.82, IAG was 6.5c weaker at $2.955, Onesteel was 4.5c weaker at $1.195, Sims Metal slumped 66c to $11.74, Boral was 18c weaker at $3.32, Telstra lost 3c to $3.07, Fairfax Media slid 2c to 80.5c, Billabong put on 2c to $3.34, Flight Centre dropped 51c to $16.49, Leighton retreated 71c to $17.97, Asciano slumped 6c to $1.39, Woolworths gave back 28c to $24.58, David Jones rose 2c to $3.04, CSL improved 9c to $29.77, Woodside Petroleum lost $1.05 to $31.43 and Santos retreated 41c to $10.96.
In New Zealand the NZX 50 index was down 34.6 at 3308.7 and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 had fallen 179 points to 8520.
Gold is worth $US1,634.75 an ounce and the Australian dollar is changing hands at US96.73c.
