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Aussie share market closes lower

Xinhua, June 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Australian share market closed lower on Wednesday on the back of stronger than expected economic figures that reduced the chances of an interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia.

At 4:15 p.m. (AEST), the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 55.4 points or 1.03 percent at 5,323.2 points, and the broader All Ordinaries index was down 52.6 points or 0.97 percent at 5,395.2 points.

IG market analyst Angus Nicholson told AAP shares were already under pressure following falls on the Wall Street and major European markets, before stronger than expected economic growth numbers triggered selling of high yielding stocks, including the big four banks, that had recently rallied on expectations of another Reserve Bank rate cut.

"GDP came in much higher than many expected, we saw the market's pricing for a rate cut in August decline below 50 percent," Nicholson said.

"A lot of the rallies we have seen in the past week or two have been driven by people looking for high dividend paying stocks, piling into the banking stocks in particular, because in a low rate environment there is a real incentive to hold the stocks that pay good dividends."

At the close, ANZ lost 1.10 percent, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia was down 1.20 percent, the National Australia Bank fell 1.44 percent, and Westpac was down 1.07 percent.

BHP Billiton lost 3.09 percent, rival Rio Tinto was down 2.01 percent while gold miner Newcrest closed the day 2.05 percent higher.

Oil Search was down 1.33 percent, Santos was down 3.97 percent and Woodside Petroleum closed the day 1.79 percent lower.

Wesfarmers lost 0.49 percent while Woolworths was down 1.45 percent.

Qantas closed the day 0.65 percent higher, while Telstra closed the day 1.25 percent lower. Endit