Australia's All Ords weighed down by banks

Australian stocks have fallen with banks pushing the All Ords down 29.2 points or 0.5% to 5446.2.

Mining stocks traded sideways with the Materials Index marking a 0.6 point gain to 9743.5 on the back of an iron ore prices rebound.

The $A picked up some ground today trading up to US$0.90 from yesterday's $0.04 fall to US$89.85.

The Chinese government announced today that it plans to ban the import and local sale of coal with high ash and sulfur content starting from 2015 in a bid to tackle air pollution. This weighed on coal companies.

Spot iron ore priced rose nearly 4% to US$85.20 overnight sparking expectations that Chinese steel mills would replenish stockpiles ahead of a long holiday next month.

Iron ore for January delivery on the Dalian Commodity Exchange the most-traded contract was up 0.3% at $US97 a tonne by midday.

Phoenix Gold (ASX:PXG) rose 4.76% to $0.11 after it identified a number of new extensions over a 3 kilometres strike to the north of Stage 1 at Castle Hill.

Further drilling is planned at this new Stage 3 and an independent resource update will be completed in the December quarter.

New Talisman Gold Mines (ASX:NTL) is up 20% to $0.012. The company appointed a virtual chief financial officer and company secretary today.

Grand Gulf Energy (ASX:GGE) is up 10% to $0.011 Gunson Resources (ASX:GUN) rose 10.53% to $0.021 Kogi Iron (ASX:KFE) up 10.81% to $0.041 and Thundelarra (ASX:THX) rose 12.5% to $0.135.

Big 4 banks

ANZ Bank (ASX:ANZ) down 0.7% to $32.14
Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) down 0.7% to $78.37
National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) down 0.4% to $33.67
Westpac (ASX:WBC) down 0.8% to $33.51

Major miners
 
BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) up 0.2% to $35.72
Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) up 2.0% to $4.04
Newcrest (ASX:NCM) down 1.4% to $10.39
Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) up 0.3% to $61.82

Oil and Gas

Oil Search (ASX:OSH) down 1.2% to $9.01
Santos (ASX:STO) down 0.1% to $14.37
Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL) down 0.5% to $41.91

Other banks financials and industrials

AMP (ASX:AMP) up 1.3% to $5.57
Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) down 1.2% to $12.26
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (ASX:BEN) down 1.4% to $12.25
Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) up 0.3% to $58.71
Suncorp (ASX:SUN) down 0.6% to $14.32
Telstra (ASX:TLS) down 1.1% to $5.43

Retailers

JB Hi-FI (ASX:JBH) down 1.9% to $16.68
Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) down 0.5% to $43.00
Woolworths (ASX:WOW) down 0.1% to $35.18

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