SYDNEY, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Australian share market has closed weaker as a stronger U.S. dollar has hurt the resources and energy stocks within the index.
At the close on Wednesday, the S&P ASX/200 index was down 45.3 points, or 0.83 percent, at 5,433 points and the All Ordinaries was down 44.1 points, or 0.79 percent, at 5,529.4 points.
CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner told Xinhua there was a huge range of selling across the index on Wednesday with the banks down by 0.4 percent, energy down by 0.1 percent and materials by two percent.
At the close, ANZ was up 1.36 percent, the National Australia Bank rose 0.37 percent, Westpac declined 0.64 percent, while the Commonwealth Bank of Australia dropped 1.50 percent.
BHP Billiton fell 3.22 percent, rival Rio Tinto retreated 2.66 percent while gold miner Newcrest was 1.95 percent higher.
Oil Search was 1.62 percent higher, Santos slipped 1.33 percent while Woodside Petroleum plunged 0.87 percent.
Wesfarmers lost 1.37 percent while rival Woolworths slumped 1.74 percent.
Qantas was unchanged while telecommunication giant Telstra's sank 0.57 percent at Wednesdays close.
