Despite a record annual profit of $14 billion, Rio Tinto share holders punished the miner for a smaller-than-expected $5 billion share buy-back.

 

Newcrest shares also finished lower despite nearly doubling its first-half netprofit to $437 million. Investors are worried about the resignation of the company's chief. Ian Smith is credited with transforming Newcrest from a debt-laden company to the world's third largest gold miner.

 

Harvey Norman lost 1.7 per cent after reporting a five per cent fall in second-quarter sales. Qantas fell one and a quarter. The airline's just announced its domestic,regional and trans-Tasman air fares will rise five per cent in two weeks' time.But Telstra shares recovered somewhat from yesterday's hammering. They added nearly one per cent.

 

And the Australian dollar's fallen below parity with the greenback after the Reserve Bank governor announced he wouldn't be lifting interest rates for some time.Glenn Stevens also confirmed the bad news about the economic impact of the Queensland floods and Cyclone Yasi, telling a parliamentary inquiry inflation will rise and national growth will fall by up to a percentage point in March.