The Australian stock exchange market closed lower Thursday as the benchmark S&P/ASX200 lost 8.8 points to 4,953.2, while the all ordinaries shed 7.5 points to 4, 922.2.

National market turnover was 1.01 billion shares worth 3.90 billion Australian dollars (3.01 billion U.S. dollars), with 444 stocks rising, 527 falling and 379 unchanged.

Among the four big banks, National Australia Bank added 28 cents to 36.38 dollars, ANZ lifted 28 cents to 26.40 dollars but Commonwealth Bank dipped 51 cents to 45.79 dollars and Westpac slumped 1 cent to 22.67 dollars.

Big miners closed lower with BHP Billiton weakening 16 cents to 27.07 dollars and rival Rio Tinto sinking 1.12 dollars to 73.28 dollars.

In the media sector, News Corp plunged 57 cents to 25.73 dollars.

Telecommunications giant Telstra lost 4 cents to 3.80 dollars.

Source: Xinhua