Interest rates and resource outputs weigh on ASX

The index dropped -0.3%, but the average rarely tells the story

Scott Phillips (TMFGilla)

Scott Phillips is The Motley Fool’s Chief Investment Officer in Australia. He is Advisor of The Fool’s flagship investment service, Motley Fool Share Advisor and the Portfolio Manager of Motley Fool Everlasting Income and Premier Portfolio, as well as running our most premium service, Motley Fool Platinum. He is passionate about investing, having managed his own portfolio for over 15 years. A dyed-in-the-wool Fool (in the best way), he has been a member of The Motley Fool since 1999. Scott holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Management) and a Graduate Diploma of Accounting. Before joining The Fool, Scott worked in various Sales and Finance roles in industry, which has allowed him to see the good, bad and the ugly of corporate management close-up. Giving him a great understanding of the way businesses run – and what separates the business wheat from the chaff – Scott wholeheartedly agrees with Warren Buffett when he said he was a ‘better investor because I am a businessman and a better businessman because I am an investor’. Scott left a successful career to follow his passion – helping our members achieve the best possible investment returns, and helping Australians learn to better manage their money. It’s no surprise he ended up at The Motley Fool.

Published April 17, 2012 5:20 pm AEST

After tracking higher in the first couple of hours of trade, the S&P / ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) couldn't hang on to its early gains on Tuesday 17^th April, closing down 0.3% to 4288.6 points.

The market seemed to lose steam after the Reserve Bank released the minutes from its most recent meeting, outlining its plans to use the upcoming Consumer Price Index (CPI) read as its guide for the next move on rates.

As is always the case, though, the index return only tells part of the story. It's the weighted average of the 200 companies that make up the index – meaning that half of the index (by weight) did better than that mark, and the other half worse.

Leading the charge today were the miners – bouncing back from losses at the end of last week. Streeting the field was Energy Resources of Australia (ASX: ERA) with a 12.7% gain today alone. ERA left the others in its dust, but Lynas Corporation Limited (ASX: LYC) managed a very creditable 5% gain, and Energy World Corporation Ltd. (ASX: EWC) closed up 4.6%. Rounding out the top 5 were Ardent Leisure Group (ASX: AAD) with a 2.9% bump and Australian Infrastructure Fund Ltd. (ASX: AIX), up 2.7%.

With gainers of this magnitude, and the index showing losses on the day, it was inevitable that there'd be some big losers among the 60% of the companies that ended lower today.

Providing a neat bookend to ERA's gain, was Linc Energy Ltd (ASX: LNC), which closed down13%. There were some other heavy losers today, with 13 companies showing losses of 3% or more. Among the largest were Mirabela Nickel Limited (ASX: MBN), off 8.3%, Ramelius Resources Limited (ASX: RMS), down 5.5%, Regis Resources Limited (ASX: RRL), which shed 5.3%, and Mineral Deposits Limited (ASX: MDL), which dropped 4.8% today.

In other news, Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) released output figures which disappointed the market, with a 0.7% fall in the share price.

The Australian dollar dipped after the release of the RBA minutes, down 0.5c to $1.0305 just before 5pm Australian Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday.

As always, an index throws the good in with the bad, and you should never read too much into a single day's share price movement. We Fools remain on the hunt for the best shares on the market – using dips as a buying opportunity.

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