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Australian scrips

finish lower

SYDNEY: The Australian share market closed lower for the third day running as selling emerged in the afternoon session.

At 0605 GMT, the All Ordinaries index was 9.5 points lower at 2102.00.

The September share price index contract was down 9.0 points at 2121 points, but still at a 19 point premium to the physical market.

After a cautious start following Wall Street's fall and ahead of triple witching hour in the US on Friday, the local market again fell sharply away in the afternoon session.

While the futures market slid into negative territory in the afternoon, brokers said the emergence of sellers in the physical market was the main reason for the fall.

The view that the markets have been oversold in the last couple of days was a common one, particularly after sharply higher base metals prices offshore.

"We had expected the market to probably finish a couple of points higher after the higher metals prices overnight but it just fell away as the afternoon wore on," said a Sydney dealer.

In industrials, the most notable was Metal Manufactures, falling after announcing a lower operating profit on Wednesday.-Reuter