Stocks slide on election concerns

Uncertainty about the outcome of the election saw the Australian share market shrug off a strong lead from Wall Street and finish weaker.

After hovering at near its record high for the morning, the All Ordinaries ended the day six points down at 3,562.

Western Australian-based miner Sons of Gwalia surprised the market when it announced it had appointed administrators to work out if the company was still solvent.

The company is worried it might not have enough gold in the ground to pay its loans.

Sons of Gwalia shares have been suspended from trade.

Other resource stocks helped drag the market down. BHP Billiton shares were 18 cents lower at $13.15, while Woodside Petroleum was down 2 per cent, or 37 cents, to $17.93.

Oil and gas producer Santos also had about 2 per cent wiped off its shares. Pasminco shares went up more than 1.5 per cent to $1.83.

The banking sector benefited from election uncertainty. ANZ put on 12 cents to $18.36, the National Australia Bank (NAB) was up nine cents to $26.54, St George was 15 cents higher to $21.60.

Market heavyweight News Corp is down five cents to $11.05, while Kerry Packer's PBL is also five cents lower to $13.65.

Woolworths led the retail sector down, falling more than 2.5 per cent, or 34 cents, to $12.57.

Telstra shares were two cents lower at $4.83.

The upcoming election is also affecting the Australian dollar.

At 5:00pm AEST, the local currency was trading at 69.7 US cents.

On the cross rates it was quoted at 38.9 pence sterling, 76.8 Japanese yen and 58.04 euro cents.

A barrel of West Texas intermediate crude was fetching $US43.11, while spot gold was a little higher at $US404.25 an ounce.

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