UNABLE to make it four days straight, the Australian market slid as expected, with easing global activity and local data indicating the unemployment rate remained steady.

Stock   ASX Code Close ($) Change (cents) Change (%) Vol (M) VWAP ($) Alumina Ltd   AWC 0.735 5 7.30 28.08 0.73 Western Areas NL   WSA 3.99 23 6.12 1.15 3.95 Iluka Resources Ltd   ILU 10.13 56 5.85 4.63 10.07 Independence Group NL   IGO 3.27 18 5.83 3.50 3.18 Aquila Resources Ltd   AQA 2.69 14 5.49 0.87 2.66 Regis Resources Ltd   RRL 4.72 18 3.96 1.88 4.65 Atlas Iron Ltd   AGO 1.85 6.5 3.64 8.75 1.82 Rio Tinto Ltd   RIO 56.86 197 3.59 4.67 56.67 Cudeco Ltd   CDU 3.67 11 3.09 0.28 3.63 Whitehaven Coal Ltd   WHC 3.87 7 1.84 2.30 3.88 Paladin Energy Ltd   PDN 1.255 2 1.62 5.52 1.25 BHP Billiton Ltd   BHP 32.8 52 1.61 9.42 32.82 Sandfire Resources NL   SFR 7.49 11 1.49 0.44 7.51 Medusa Mining Ltd   MML 5.11 6 1.19 1.02 5.13 New Hope Corp Ltd   NHC 4.04 4 1.00 0.13 4.02 OZ Minerals Ltd   OZL 7.84 7 0.90 1.00 7.83 Mount Gibson Iron Ltd   MGX 0.985 0.5 0.51 2.88 0.99 Yancoal Australia Ltd   YAL 1.05 0.5 0.48 0.93 1.03 Newcrest Mining Ltd   NCM 24.46 6 0.25 1.69 24.39 AngloGold Ashanti Ltd   AGG 6.45 1 0.16 0.00 6.46 Fortescue Metals Group Ltd   FMG 4.52 0 0.00 15.84 4.55 Lynas Corp Ltd   LYC 0.77 0 0.00 13.03 0.78 Resolute Mining Ltd   RSG 1.395 0 0.00 2.68 1.40 Energy Resources of Australia   ERA 1.425 0 0.00 0.67 1.43 Alacer Gold Corp   AQG 6.15 -2 -0.32 0.23 6.18 Perseus Mining Ltd   PRU 2.26 -1 -0.44 1.87 2.25 Eldorado Gold Corp   EAU 10.63 -12 -1.12 0.01 10.47 Evolution Mining Ltd   EVN 1.605 -2.5 -1.53 0.67 1.60 PanAust Ltd   PNA 2.47 -4 -1.59 7.40 2.50 Sundance Resources Ltd   SDL 0.335 -1 -2.90 6.55 0.00

The S&P/ASX 200 closed 1% or 4.2 points lower to 4308.3 this afternoon and the All Ordinaries also felt the pressure, falling 0.06% to 4330.1 points.

However, most miners managed to keep their heads above water with healthy gains stretching among the majors.

It was also reflected in the basic material index which increased 1.6%, the highest moving ASX subsector on the day.

BHP Billiton was up 1.6% to $A32.80 and Rio Tinto was trading 3.6% higher at $56.86 after releasing a half-year profit yesterday of $6 billion, down from $8 billion in the previous half.

Among the junior miners, Elemental Minerals shares soared by 13.6% to 79.5c after announcing it had intersected high-grade potash mineralisation from its Sintoukola project in west Africa.

Sunseeker Minerals remained in a trading halt for a second day pending the announcement of a potential acquisition.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released data which shows employment increased to 11.5 million in July while unemployment increased to 631,700.

The unemployment rate remained steady at 5.2% between June and July and the participation rate was also stagnant, sitting at 65.3%.

The ABS said the aggregate monthly hours worked decreased to 1.6 billion hours from a revised June 2012 estimate, although it still increased by 13.4 million hours on the previous month’s figures.

In seasonally adjusted estimates, the male unemployment rate increased 0.2 points to 5.2% and the female unemployment rate decreased 0.3 points to 5.3%.

Findings also revealed the number of people looking for full-time work increased 14,600 to 457,600.

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