BHP buyback limits market fall

se Shares have ended slightly lower, with hefty demand for top stock BHP Billiton ahead of a share buyback shielding the market from a bigger fall.

At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index was down 10.8 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 4845.9, while the broader All Ordinaries Index declined 11.7 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 4935.6.

Among the major sectors, financials were down 0.4 per cent, industrials slipped 0.2 per cent and materials inched down 0.1 per cent.

BHP shares closed 1 cent lower at $46.57 in their biggest volume in nearly four years, and after a 1.6 per cent gain on Tuesday as investors piled into the stock ahead of a deadline on Thursday to be eligible for one component of the buyback.