At one point in morning trade, the S&P-ASX 200 index hit an eight-day high of 3272.7 points before cooling in afternoon trade to close 0.3% lower at 3235.5 points while the All Ordinaries also fell 0.3% to 3190.4 points following Australia’s worse-than-expected unemployment rate for February.

Figures revealed Australia’s unemployment rate hit 5.2% in February, up from 4.8% in January – its biggest one month rise since November 1998.

In some positive news, earnings from exports of Australian mineral and energy products in the fourth quarter of 2008 jumped 10% from the previous quarter to $A47.3 billion, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

After posting early gains, BHP Billiton closed 0.49% lower at $30.35, while rival Rio Tinto gained 0.74% to close at $50.17.

Shares in nickel play Western Areas jumped to an intraday high of $3.73 before cooling to close at $3.56, up 8.2%, after inking a new nickel offtake contract for its Forrestania ore and a $45 million financing deal with BHP which will go towards its planned Spotted Quoll mine.

Spot gold was trading higher today on bargain hunting. At 3.43pm AEDT spot gold was 0.5% up at $912.90 an ounce.

Newcrest Mining ended the session 2.7% higher at $31.74, Lihir Gold added 4.6% to $2.99, Sino Gold Mining fell 2% to $4.96 while Newmont Mining added 3.6% to $5.70.

Copper for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange was trading $4 lower at $3585 per tonne today.

In other news, the ranking of Fortescue Metals Group chief Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest in the annual Forbes magazine rich list has slipped to 376, after last year topping the list of Australian billionaires at 145.

According to Forbes, Forrest’s fortune has slipped from $US6.5 billion to $1.9 billion.

FMG closed the session 2.5% lower at $2.39, while Iluka Resources fell 5% to $4.18 and Paladin Energy dipped 1.7% to close at $2.88.