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Aussie shares lost 0.7% to lunchtime Tuesday, on track to snapping four straight sessions of gains. Investors in the banks booked profits, while the miners, heavily sold in recent days, held their ground.

At midday, the All Ords was down 28.3 to 4,907.8, while the ASX/200 retreated 31.0 to 4,880.1. About 1.5 billion shares worth around $1.7 billion had changed hands.

The big four banks all lost ground. NAB and ANZ both shed 0.9% after strong gains yesterday.

Westpac shares retreated 34c, or 1.3%, $25.67. Commonwealth Bank of Australia slumped 93c, or 1.6% to $57.12.

The broader Banks and Financials sector gave up 1.1%.

Insurers drifted lower, with the exception of Suncorp-Metway which rose 16c, or 1.8% to $9.01.

Property Trusts slumped 1% in the face of broad losses in the sector. Lend Lease and Westfield were both down 0.9%, while Mirvac retreated 2.5c, or 1.6% to $1.56.

The Materials and Resources sector lost 0.1%.

Market heavyweight BHP Billiton added 17c, or 0.4% to $43.61. Rival Rio Tinto shed 20c, or 0.3% to $78.12.

OceanaGold surged 7.9% 24 hours after the gold producer said that its reserves in New Zealand had increased.

A number of resource stocks barely moved from their overnight close, including Fortescue, Newcrest and metal recycler Sims Group.

Lihir Gold stretched gains to a third day as investors reacted positively to the resignation of CEO Arthur Hood. The company's shares added 4c to $3.36.

The Energy sector lost 0.9%.

Karoon Gas spiked 26c, or 3.4% to $8.00. The gas producer said it would retest the Poseidon 2 well that last week produced ‘inconclusive’ results.

Whitehaven Coal led the sector lower, down 20c, or 3.8% to $5.12.

Oil Search, Santos and Woodside all retreated between 0.7% and 1%.

The Industrials sector slumped 1.2%. Brambles and Toll fell 11c and 25c to $6.85 and $8.98 respectively.

Leighton also lost ground, though a more conservative 10c, or 0.3% to $39.40.

Softness from the retailers saw the Consumer Discretionary sector down 0.9%.

David Jones lost 5c, or 1% to $4.99. Myer continues to disappoint to be down another 3c, or 0.9% to $3.52, 14% below the $4.10 per share initially paid for the shares in October.

Kathmandu shares were down 1.5c, or 0.9c to $1.60. The retailer's shares have lost 6% from their initial listing price in November.

Among the media stocks, Fairfax lost 4.5c, or 2.4% to $1.815 and Newscorp retreated 24c, or 1.4% to $17.00.

Consumer Staples was down 0.3% on the back of a 27c, or 1% decline in Woolworths' shares.

Wesfarmers edged higher, although was easily countered by a 1.5% loss from Foster's.

Computershare surged $1.05, or 9.2% to $12.51 after the share registry company announced EPS had spiked 20% in the last six months.

The broader Information Technology sector rose 5.9%.

The Telecommunications sector lost 0.2% on the back of a 1c, or 0.3% loss from sector heavyweight Telstra.

Around the region, the Nikkei 225 fell 21.2 to 10,833.8, while the Straits Times Index gained 7.3 to 2,919.3. Meanwhile, the NZSE50 edged 14.1 points lower to 3,233.0.

Spot gold was trading at US$1,137.47 per ounce, and the Aussie was buying US$0.9264.

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Kingsgate gold remains on track
Kingsgate Consolidated said it had produced 40,224 ounces of gold in the three months to 31 December. Looking ahead, the gold miner said it expected production would come in at the higher end of the 120,000 – 140,000 ounces previously offered as production guidance for the year to 30 June 2010.

At midday, Kingsgate shares were 15c higher at $9.58.

Minara quarterly output increases
Minara Resources said it achieved production of 8,675 tonnes of nickel and 512 tonnes of cobalt at its 60% owned Murrin Murrin operations for the December 2009 quarter, up from 7,836t of nickel and 506t of cobalt in the pcp. The company said production levels for both nickel and cobalt reached record levels for the calendar year at 32,977t and 2,350t respectively.

At lunch, Minara shares up 1c to 81.5c.

OZ Minerals to exercise anti-dilution rights
IMX Resources said OZ Minerals would exercise its anti-dilution rights for the proposed placement to the Hong Kong subsidiary of Sichuan Taifeng Group Co Ltd, Taifeng Yuanchuang International Development Co Ltd. IMX said OZ Minerals has a one-off right to maintain its shareholding interest in IMX for a period of 12 months by participating in future placements on the same terms and conditions.

At noon, IMX shares were unchanged at 47c, while OZ Minerals shares were down 1.5c to $1.17.

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