The Australian sharemarket finished 0.6pct or 31.1pts lower to 4860.9 today with the miners and energy companies the biggest underperformers. The market lost 0.8pct over the week.

Australia's third largest iron ore producer, Fortescue Metals (FMG) is off 2.11pct or 14cents to $6.49 and has had an eventful week with strong production figures a few days ago which resulted in the company's stock gaining strongly. FMG's share price pulled back over the second half of the week after Singapore investment house, Temasek Holdings offloaded its $876.5 million worth of FMG shares in addition to news out that FMG is aiming at raising $2.5 billion to help fund expansion of its iron ore mines.

BHP Billiton (BHP) and RIO Tinto (RIO) both ended around 1.25pct weaker. Uranium miner, Paladin Energy (PDN) downgraded its annual production forecasts and resulted in PDN shares losing 7.69pct or 42cents to $5.04.

Iron ore miner, Mount Gibson (MGX) rose strongly earlier in the week after its first-half profits more than doubled in the second half of 2010, only to have all of those gains wiped out today. MGX shares lost 5.73pct or 13cents to $2.14.

Australian budget airline, Virgin Blue (VBA) pulled back despite Air New Zealand (AIR;nz) increasing its stake in the company to almost 15pct late yesterday.

International entertainment and media company, Village Roadshow (VRL) gained around 8.5pct or 21cents to $2.68 today after confirming it is in discussions to offload its more than 50pct stake in radio broadcaster, Austereo Group (AEO). AEO shares also rose strongly and finished 4.99pct or 9cents higher to $1.895.

On the economic front, data on export and import prices were released for the last quarter. Thanks to the stronger Australian dollar, the price of imported goods slumped by 3.8pct in the December quarter (October - December 2010). Commsec Economist, Savanth Sebastian said that "It's great news for consumers. The import prices for an array of items have fallen to the lowest levels in records going back more than two decades. The index of imported electrical goods is holding at the lowest level in records going back 23 years. Even prices for leather, travel goods and mobile phones have fallen to record lows. And given the sluggish retail sales environment, retailers will continue to pass these savings on to consumers in coming months."

Prices of exported goods fell by 8.1pct in the last 3 months of 2010, partly due to a fall metals prices. Note that export prices still remain almost 20pct higher than they were a year ago. Mr Sebastian went on to say that the "The latest trade data certainly bodes well on the inflationary front. Imported prices are being kept low across a whole range of items ensuring that the Reserve Bank can remain on the interest rate sidelines in the near term. And while the latest result is likely to see a modest decline in the terms of trade story, it is unlikely to derail the income boost that will continue to drive the Australian growth story over the coming year."

The Australian dollar (AUD) has fallen quite heavily over the last few sessions and buys US98.53cents.

The number of shares traded came to 2.85 billion shares, worth $5.25 billion. 401 shares were up, 745 finished weaker and 388 ended unchanged.

At 4.30pm AEDT on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the Share Price Index futures contract (SPI) is down 0.73pct or 35pts to 4735.

Dow Jones futures are pointing to a slightly weaker start tonight.

No major economic data is expected out of the U.S tonight, however retail sales numbers will be released out of the U.K at 8.30pm (AEDT) and out of Canada at 12.30am (AEDT). These figures are important because retail sales make up a large chunk of total economic activity in addition to being a measure of consumer spending and confidence.

Bank of America and General Electric are both releasing profit results before market open tonight.

Have a great weekend!