Following drops of between 0.6% and 0.9% on Wall Street overnight, stocks in the Asia Pacific all fell today.

“Europe is sliding further into a recession and the global and US economies are still slowing down,” AMP Capital Investors head of investment strategy Shane Oliver told Bloomberg from Sydney.

“The Spanish bank bailout on the weekend didn’t help matters and probably increased the focus on Italy. It’s still time for caution on the short-term view.”

The S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.5% or 21.6 points to 4042.2 points.

BHP Billiton fell 0.4% or A12c to $31.80 while Rio Tinto dropped 0.6% or 33c to $54.27.

Golden Rim Resources jumped 28% or 3c to 13.5c after announcing gold grades of more than 160 grams per tonne gold from its Balogo project in Burkina Faso.

Shares in Curnamona Energy soared by 58% or 5.5c to 15c after Havilah Resources increased its stake in the company to more than 90%.

Metallica Minerals rose by 12% or 2.5c to 23.5c after it said the scoping study for its Nornico project in Queensland was nearing completion and discussions with potential offtake partners were underway.

Northern Star Resources went into a trading halt this morning pending the release of deep drilling results from its Paulsens gold mine, while Frontier Resources requested a halt on an update on a proposed joint venture with Newcrest Mining.