Close The Australian sharemarket has ended the day in the red as wary investors took profits from financial stocks ahead of earnings reports by US banking giants.

At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 49.9 points, or 1 per cent at 4861.2, while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 46.5 points, or 1 per cent, at 4889.6.

Among the major sectors, financials lost 1.1 per cent after gaining strongly in the last two sessions, while materials were down 0.7 per cent and energy shares fell 1.5 per cent. Information technology shares soared 5.1 per cent, boosted by an earnings upgrade by Computershare.

With US markets closed for the Martin Luther King holiday, there was no clear lead for the local bourse and volumes remained low. However, investors took profits from bank stocks just in case more fourth quarter earnings reports in the US, particularly Bank of America and Wells Fargo which are due Wednesday and Thursday, fail to hit the mark.

RBS Morgans private client adviser Craig Walker said profit taking was substantial among bank and financial stocks although Suncorp-Metway was up 14 cents, or 1.6 per cent, at $8.99.

Commonwealth Bank was the worst performer of the big four banks despite its profit upgrade on Friday, closing $1.41, or 2.4 per cent, weaker at $56.64.

Westpac shed 31 cents, or 1.2 per cent, to $25.70, National Australia Bank gave up 5 cents to $27.45 and ANZ bucked the trend, adding 3 cents to $23.20.

“It’s not surprising that people are taking the money off  the table in the banks. It has been a very firm sector for nine months and maybe it is approaching the fully valued level,” said Richard Morrow, a director at E.L.& C. Baillieu Stockbroking.

Standout performers were Computershare and Flight Centre, which both issued profit upgrades.

Computershare, the world’s biggest share registry, was up 94 cents, or 8.2 per cent, at $12.40.

Flight Centre jumped $1.30, or 7.34 per cent, to $19.00.

‘‘A stock like Flight Centre is a fairly good indicator as to how the broader economy is going,’’ Mr Walker said. ‘‘They’ve seen strong performances across all of their geographic divisions, even in places like the UK, where the financial crisis has been a bit more severe than what it is here.

‘‘They have still been able to generate reasonable profit growth.’’

Big miners in the red

Mining giant BHP Billiton was down 13 cents to $43.31, ahead of its quarterly production report due tomorrow. Rio Tinto retreated 37 cents to $77.95.

Gold mining stocks were mixed. Newmont inched one cent higher to $5.13, Lihir firmed 1 cent to $3.33 and Newcrest gave up 13 cents to $35.95.

Still on gold miners, Kingsgate Consolidated made headlines after saying it had beaten market expectations for December quarter production at its Chatree mine in Thailand and was planning growth projects due to the strong price for the precious metal. Kingsgate shares were 37 cents, or 3.92 per cent, stronger at $9.80.

In other news, Minara Resources said it achieved record full year nickel and cobalt production at its Murrin Murrin mine in Western Australia and that its 2010 goal was to optimise plant output and reduce costs.Minara shares inched 1.5 cents higher to 82 cents.

Oil stocks sag

Key oil stocks were lower. Oil Search was down 16 cents, or 2.6 per cent, at $5.90, Santos lost 18 cents to $13.70 and Woodside was 49 cents weaker at $46.75.

Among major retailers, Woolworths dropped 32 cents to $27.50, Coles owner Wesfarmers was down 11 cents at $30.62, JB Hi-Fi dipped 13 cents to $21.74, David Jones appreciated 4 cents to $5.08 and Myer slipped 1 cent to $3.54.

The media sector was in the red. Fairfax decreased 4 cents to $1.82, Consolidated Media dropped 2 cents to $3.05, News Corp sank 25 cents to $16.99 and its non-voting scrip was down 20 cents at $14.43.

Investment company Integrated Resources Group was the top traded stock by volume, with 297.49 million shares changing hands worth $7.74 million. The company’s stock soared 0.8 cents, or 66.7 per cent, to 2 cents.

Preliminary national turnover reached 2.89 billion shares, worth $5.09 billion, with 436 stocks up, 677 down and 351 steady.