A soaring Australian dollar produced a diving Australian sharemarket on Friday as investors decided that record dollar levels are bad for business. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index ended the week down 49.8 points, or 1.02 per cent, at 4,823.2, while the broader All Ordinaries index slipped 53.3 points, or 1.08 per cent, to 4,899.

On the ASX 24, the June share price index futures contract was 65 points lower at 4,808, with 42,000 contracts traded. The local unit was at 109.09 US cents, down from 109.12 cents on Thursday. Earlier, the unit reached 109.47 US cents on Thursday, its highest level since the currency floated in December 1983. The shortened three day week saw Australian stocks uncharacteristically ignore strong offshore leads, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average nearly reaching three-year highs this week.

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Companies with significant overseas earnings fell. Uranium producer Extract Resources suffered the heaviest hit on the ASX200, plunging 89 cents, or 11.76 per cent, at $6.68 after reports the Namibian government had called for the state owned miner to have exclusive rights over certain strategic minerals, including uranium. Paladin Energy Ltd, which also has deposits there, gave up 15 cents, or 4.35 per cent, at $3.30.

Steel producer BlueScope Steel Ltd also had a tough day, dropping 10.5 cents, or 5.72 per cent, at $1.73. BHP Billiton, Australia's biggest stock, declined 46 cents to $45.83, while Rio Tinto slipped $1.16 to $82.21. Fortescue Metals lost 23 cents, or 3.61 per cent, to $6.15. Energy company Australian Worldwide Exploration reported a five per cent fall in quarterly production, and has downgraded annual production guidance. Its shares were down 1.5 cent, or 0.95 per cent, to $1.56. Gold miner Newcrest slipped 57 cents, or 1.36 per cent, to $41.45, even as the price of the precious metal reached record highs.

One bright spot was Macquarie Group, which gained after reporting full year earnings. Macquarie's full year profit declined by nine per cent as the investment bank said earnings in fiscal 2012 were expected to improve on the year just passed. The stock added 26 cents, or 0.74 per cent, to $35.16. The major retail banks were down, except for Commonwealth Bank, which added five cents to $53.71. In other news on Friday, Foster's Group shareholders voted to demerge the company into two separately listed companies focussing each on beer and wine. The shares were in a trading halt before resuming and dropping 13 cents before the close at $5.62. Preliminary national turnover was 3.07 billion shares, worth $8.1 billion, with 323 shares up, 854 down and 389 unchanged.

The Australian dollar traded just off a fresh 29-year high Friday as technical factors had the U.S. dollar staging a minor recovery. Still, the move took little luster off what has been another bumper week for the Australian dollar thanks to a dovish outlook from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who signaled he isn't going to tighten policy soon, and a soft 1.8% growth in first-quarter U.S. gross domestic product. The news sent the U.S. dollar sliding against all currencies in the last few days, maybe none more so than the Australian dollar. The Australian dollar was changing hands at $1.0898, from $1.0928 late Thursday. It traded at a 29-year high of $1.0947 Thursday. Against the yen, it was at 88.865, from 89.26.

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