Australia shares end down 1.1 pct

Australian stocks fell 1.1 per cent on Tuesday,erasing part of Monday's gains.

Australian stocks fell 1.1 per cent on Tuesday,erasing part of Monday8217;s gains as investors shied away from risk and pushed down the big miners and banks on worries about a shaky global economic recovery.

For the month of August,the market was on track for a decline of 2.0 per cent after rising 4.5 per cent in July.

Analysts said the market was simply following Wall Street8217;s direction and concerns about the fragile US economy,despite the relative strength of the Australian economy.

Stronger than expected retail sales and building data helped lift the market off its lows briefly,but retailers soon lost their gains.

8220;We are going to get a lot of sporadic spikes and falls because it is hard to get consistency through on the economic numbers,8221; said Paterson Securities dealer Martin Angel.

8220;Volumes are below normal,this apprehension about the global recovery has been around for a while now,8221; he said,adding investors were waiting to see if there was a negative market reaction to the US payrolls report on Friday.

Top miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto fell 2.2 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively,with copper prices slipping on worries about high US unemployment crimping economic growth.

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The big four banks all fell,with Westpac Banking Corp down the most,off 2.8 per cent at A21.70,reversing strong gains from Monday. Macquarie said it was cutting Westpac from its model portfolio,while adding ANZ.

8220;Large global investors are selling growth and risk-related assets across the board 8212; shares,oil and risk-related currencies like the Australian and Canadian dollars,8221; said City Index head of dealing Michael McCarthy.

The benchmark Samp;P/ASX 200 index ended down 48.5 points at 4,404.2,near its session low,after jumping 1.9 per cent on Monday. Volume was around 90 per cent of an average day.

New Zealand8217;s benchmark NZX 50 index slipped 0.7 points to 3,036.1.

Analysts played down any impact from continuing uncertainty over who would form a minority government in Australia,following last week8217;s inconclusive election.

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8220;I don8217;t think we8217;re really observing any election influence on the market. It8217;s strictly an offshore lead,8221; said Ben Lyons,analyst at ATI Asset Management.

Shopping mall investor Centro Properties Group shares fell 5.7 per cent as it warned it had to restructure and recapitalise or the company would not survive.

CEO Robert Tsenin said the firm,which owns US and Australian malls,had A18.6 billion of investment properties and A18.4 billion of related debt.

Health information company iSoft lost 15.2 per cent to A0.14 after hitting a 6-½ year low of A0.125 as it reported a loss and said it needed to restructure its senior debt facilities,review its capital structure and was considering asset sales.

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Gold miners were a bright spot,continuing to climb on hopes of more takeover activity in the sector. Kingsgate Consolidated rose 1 per cent to A10.02,while Newcrest Mining,fresh from swallowing up Lihir Gold,rose 3.4 per cent to A37.25.