THE Australian sharemarket closed lower yesterday, weighed down by a negative lead from United States markets on Friday and lower prices for base metals.

Simon Ferguson, a private client adviser with ABN Amro Morgans, said investors were anxious about a possible recession in US and its effect on the global economy.

“Investors seem to be worried about global growth,” he said.

He said there a few bargain hunters moved into investment banks and infrastructure stocks yesterday.

Overall volumes were light, given a public holiday in Melbourne, and there was little domestic news.

“We’re firmly in the hands of the US market. Obviously that lead isn’t good, and more and more commentators are calling the US in recession anyway,” Mr Ferguson said.

At the close the ASX200 index was down 83.6 points, or 1.59 per cent, at 5180.4 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 93.2 points, or 1.74 per cent, at 5275.7.

On Wall Street on Friday the Dow Jones dropped 146.70 points to 11,893.69 after worse than expected jobs data supported fears that the world’s biggest economy could already be in recession.

In the resources sector, the global miner BHP Billiton fell $1.58, to $37.30, Rio Tinto fell $4.72, to $126.48, and Alumina fell 37c, to $5.68.

The zinc hopeful Herald Resources fell 7c, to $2.64, as it backed a $505 million bid by a consortium led by Chinese and Indonesian interests.

The oil and gas producer Woodside was steady at $56.50 and Santos rose 1c, to $12.41.

The big banks were lower. Commonwealth Bank fell 65c, to $38.70, as it lifted its standard variable home loan rate by 35 basis points, 10 basis points higher than last week’s official cash rate rise by the Reserve Bank of Australia.

National Australia Bank fell 43c, to $26.50, Westpac 12c, to $21.02, and ANZ 27c, to $19.99.

Elsewhere in the financial services sector Allco Finance fell 6c, to 46.5c, as administrators took control of its major shareholder, Allco Principal Investments.

Babcock & Brown fell to $13.80, a drop of 16c, as it retired $250 million in short-term margin loans secured against its managed funds so far this calendar year.

Among the telcos, Telstra fell 7c, to $4.30, and its instalment receipts fell 6c, to $2.71. The Optus owner Singapore Telecom was steady at $2.83.

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