Market Update: The S&P/ASX 200 was 0.4% lower at 5,292 points on light volume
Market Update: The S&P/ASX 200 was 0.4% lower at 5,292 points on light volume. The market was weighed down by the weaker than expected U.S. non-farm payrolls with just 74,000 jobs created in December, the smallest increase since January 2011 and well short of an estimate of 200,000 gain. While the unemployment rate fell from 7% to 6.7%, it was boosted by the lowest participation rate since 1978 of 62.8%. Financials were lower with all the major banks falling between 0.7% and 1.0%. Resources were bucking the trend with gold miners leading the sector as spot gold jumped 1.7% last Friday night. BHP and RIO were both up 0.3% and 0.2% respectively. Newcrest jumped 6.0% and Silver Lake Resources spiked 11.3%. The AUD rose to a one month high of US$0.9033. The SPI was down 0.6% at 5,256 points on the Sydney Futures Exchange.