THE Australian dollar closed slightly higher on Tuesday and the share market closed flat on profit-taking.

At 1700 AEDT, the Australian dollar was trading at $US0.9014/16, up 0.1 per cent from Monday's close of $US0.9004/09.

Between 0700 AEDT and the local close, the unit traded between $US0.8986 and $US0.9018.
Tim Connors, corporate branch manager at Custom House Foreign Exchange, said it was one of the most boring days in the past two weeks.

``Volumes were pretty light across the board, equity volumes were also pretty light,'' he said.

Much of the focus had been on the problems facing indebted countries in the euro zone, Greece in particular, although anxiety surrounding Greece was dissipating.

``It's fading somewhat, I think,'' he said.

``Every day that we move further away from their potential default is a positive, without getting any new cases of problems from other EU members.

``May 15 is a date that is really key for Greece.''
 
On that day, Greece is due to present an update on its finances to the European Union (EU), as demanded earlier this month by the finance ministers of the other EU member nations.

Mr Connors said there was not much speculation about the outcome of the monthly monetary policy meeting to held next Tuesday by the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

The market had factored in about a 40-45 per cent chance of a rise in the cash rate to 4.00 per cent from its current 3.75 per cent, he said.

Meanwhile, the Australian share market closed flat with major banks buffering the market against the effect of profit-takers.

At 1615 AEDT, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was marginally inside positive territory, up 0.8 points, or 0.02 per cent, at  4718.3 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index had slipped  1.7 points, or 0.04 per cent, lower to 4731.

On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index futures contract was seven points higher at 4,708 on volume of  24,379 contracts.

Westpac finished 24 cents, or 0.92 per cent, higher at $26.36, while CBA gained 42 cents, or 0.78 per cent, to $54.55 and ANZ Banking Group added 19 cents, or 0.84 per cent, to $22.73.

NAB lost eight cents, or 0.32 per cent, to $25.25.

Wealth manager and insurer AMP Ltd dragged the market down after it went ex-dividend on Tuesday, Mr Walker said.
AMP fell 26 cents, or 4.11 per cent, to $6.07.

``Wesfarmers is also weaker but it had a pretty strong run over the last few days and also went ex-dividend today.
The Perth-based conglomerate eased 25 cents, or 0.77 per cent, to $32.16.

Profit-takers hit the resources sector, with mining giant BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals feeling the brunt of the activity, Mr Walker said.

BHP Billiton lost five cents to $42.11 while rival Rio Tinto put on 24 cents to $72.75.
Fortescue Metals fell 15 cents, or 3.01 per cent, to $4.84.

Oil majors had mixed results, with market heavyweight Woodside Petroleum falling 19 cents to $44.41, while Oil Search gained 11 cents to $5.41 and Santos added 11 cents to $13.78.

Oil Search Ltd said it was relying on the massive PNG liquified natural gas project to boost future earnings, after revealing net profit fell sharply in 2009 amid falling oil prices and lower sales.

Gold miners put in a mixed performance, with Lihir Gold firming one cent to $2.80, Newcrest Mining falling 16 cents to $33.10 and Newmont Mining steady at $5.17.

By 1626 AEDT the spot price of gold in Sydney was trading at $US1116.60 per fine ounce, down $US7.96 on Monday's closing price of $1,124.56.

Major retailers suffered a widespread sell-off, with giant grocer Woolworths down five cents to $25.99, Myer Holdings losing six cents to $3.34 and JB Hi-Fi falling 23 cents, or 1.14 per cent, to $19.87.

Shares in women's apparel retailer Specialty Fashion Group Ltd eased two cents to $1.38 after it said it expected tough trading conditions to continue for the remainder of 2009/10.

The company posted a huge rise in first half profit and recommenced dividend payments.

Seven Network was the standout performer in the media sector, jumping 17 cents, or 2.44 per cent, to $7.15 as the market digested the company's proposed $3.4 billion merger with Caterpillar dealer WesTrac.

The rest of the sector lost ground, with Fairfax Media falling  3.5 cents to $1.77, News Corporation down six cents to $17.79 and its non-voting scrip six cents lower at $15.11.

Airline stocks lost altitude, with Qantas falling seven cents, or 2.57 per cent, to a two-month low of $2.65 and Virgin Blue diving 2.5 cents, or 3.88 per cent, to 62 cents.

Paper merchant PaperlinX dropped 2.5 cents, or 3.55 per cent, to  68 cents.

In other news on Tuesday, shares in paper maker and packager Amcor gained seven cents, or 1.17 per cent, to $6.04 on better than expected first half 2009/10 earnings.

Amcor reported a 2.3 per cent rise in net profit for the first half of $95 million.

GPT Group reported an annual net loss of more than $1 billion but the result is a huge improvement on the prior result after the property trust made smaller writedowns.

GPT's shares firmed 0.5 cents, or 0.84 per cent, to 60 cents.

Samson Oil and Gas was the top traded stock by turnover, with  86.4 million shares traded for $2.4 million.

Samson's shares finished 0.3 cents, or 12 per cent, ahead at 2.8 cents.

Preliminary national turnover reached 2.3 billion shares, worth $5.18 billion, with 485 stocks trading up, 583 down and 341 steady.

AAP