The S&P-ASX 200 index closed today’s session at 4885.4 points, down 0.1%, while the All Ordinaries also fell 0.1% to close at 4896.3 points.
The news was gloomy from Wall Street where the Dow Jones Industrial Average was dragged 0.5% lower after rating agency Fitch downgraded the sovereign credit rating for Portugal, while US new home sales in February dropped to a record low for the second consecutive month.
"In light of weaker commodity prices, concern about Portugal's credit rating and European sovereign debt generally, and disappointing US economic data, equities have been fairly resilient," Dow Jones Newswires quoted Macquarie Private Wealth associate director Marcus Droga as saying.
“But I expect some further weakness across the board because the downgrade of Portugal highlights the fact that European sovereign debt problems haven't been resolved and could possibly be systemic.”
The mining heavyweights were mixed today after a slip in commodity prices on the London Metal Exchange on the back of Portugal’s downgrading.
LME copper was trading at $US7357.50 per tonne, down $13.50, while lead fell $16 to $2015/t and zinc was flat at $2222/t.
BHP Billiton slipped A4c to close at $43.32, while Rio Tinto gained $1.42 to $78.62.
Fortescue Metals Group finished the session 3c lower at $4.78 while OZ Minerals gained 0.5c to $1.145.
Spot gold was trading $US2.50 higher at $1088.90 an ounce at 3.48pm AEDT. Despite the price rise, gold stocks were down for the most part with Newcrest Mining closing A52c lower at $32.82, Lihir Gold down 6c to $3.02 and AngloGold Ashanti down 17c to $8.23.
Biggest mover by percentage today on the Final Call watchlist was Montezuma Mining Company, which gained 5c, or 28%, to close at 23c.
The junior explorer announced that Auvex Resources, which it partly owns, had intersected high-grade manganese in a first-pass reconnaissance drill program at the Horseshoe tenement in Western Australia.
The most traded stock today was Astro Resources with more than 96.7 million shares changing hands by the final bell.
