The market made a late recovery to only close down a couple of points at the close today with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) losing 0.1pct or 3.7pts to 4673.2. Almost all sectors finished in the red with the exception of defensive sectors such as the healthcare and telecoms.

Our two largest miners, BHP Billiton (BHP) and RIO Tinto (RIO) both finished lower with RIO the worst of the two giants, losing 1.25pct or $1.04 to $82.49. BHP Billiton (BLT.l), in London trade purchased 605,000 ordinary shares overnight which have been removed from the market.

Three of the big four banks finished in negative territory with Westpac (WBC) managing to gain by 0.42pct or 9cents to $21.40.

Rail and freight operator QR National (QRN) has gained for the third straight day and is trading $0.25 or 10pct higher than its retail issue price of $2.45.

Australia's second largest oil and gas producer, Woodside Petroleum (WPL) rose by 0.52pct or 21cents to $40.77.

Our retailers pulled back with department store owner, Myer (MYR) losing 1.34pct or 5cents to $3.69 and its competitor David Jones (DJS) finished flat.

Australia's largest airline, Qantas Airways (QAN) pulled back by 0.38pct or 1cent to $2.63 after gaining yesterday thanks to announcing that two of their A380s are expected to resume flying this Saturday between Sydney and London.

On the economic front, construction work done fell by 2.1pct in the September quarter. Big falls in construction activity came from residential building which eased by 6.1pct over the quarter. Commsec Economist, Savanth Sebastian said that "Residential construction was the clear driver of the weak overall result. Residential building slumped by over 6 per cent in the quarter - marking the biggest decline in just shy of a decade. The rapid fire rate hikes, hangover effect from the government stimulus coupled and considerable growth in property prices over the past year all contributed to the weakness in residential demand and activity." Mr Sebastian went on to say that "Given the Reserve Bank is forward looking it is unlikely to be too concerned by the slide in construction activity especially because there is a healthy amount of work in the pipeline. However the recent rate rise is likely to put a dampener on activity in the near term. Given the slide in residential construction and overall weakness in activity it would be best if the Reserve Bank left interest rates on hold for a couple of months."

The Australian dollar gained throughout the session to currently buy US97.9c.

Volume of shares traded came in at 2.75 billion shares worth $6.51 billion. 460 shares were up, 627 finished weaker and 397 ended unchanged.

At 4.30pm AEST on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the Share Price Index futures contract (SPI) 0.07pct or 3pts to 4589.

Dow Jones futures are currently pointing to a slightly stronger start when the U.S markets open at 1.30am AEDT)

In the US durable goods, personal spending/income and the PCE deflator are released.