Australian share market down 3pc at noon THE share market has gained some ground at noon to be nearly 3 per cent down, after opening sharply lower this morning following a 5 per cent fall on Wall St overnight. At 12.09pm (AEDT), the ASX200 was down around 95 points to 3404. It fell as much as 140 points in early trade. The All Ords was down 99 points to 3384 at noon, after being as much as 137 points lower to 3346 in morning trade. ABN Amro Morgans private client adviser Bill Bishop said no Australian stock or sector was safe after the lows seen on the US market overnight. "It's pretty much red everywhere," Mr Bishop said. The banking sector is taking a savage hit and all the resources are being hit pretty hard. Rio Tinto was 9.4 per cent lower to $59.70 at noon. BHP lost 6 per cent to $21.77. Fortescue was down nearly 6 per cent to $1.27, after falling as much as 11 per cent in early trade. ANZ was 4.7 per cent weaker at noon to 13.17, while Commonwealth Bank was 3.7 per cent down to $29.79. Macquarie Group gained 3.2 per cent to $25.96. "The market has now descended to a more than 50 per cent drop from November 1 last year," Mr Bishop said. GrainCorp dropped 44 cents or 7 per cent to $5.85 after it announced an annual loss for the second consecutive year. Australia's biggest oil and gas producer, Woodside Petroleum, fell $1.98 or 5.84 per cent to $31.95. Santos was down 71 cents or 5.54 per cent at $12.11 and Oil Search fell six cents to $4.59. At 10.53am (AEDT), spot gold in Sydney was trading at $US734.05 an ounce, down $US4.50 on yesterday's close of $US738.35. Gold miner Newcrest fell 27 cents to $18.68, Lihir Gold decreased 7.5 cents to $1.1615 and Newmont was down one cent at $3.59. More gloomy US economic data sent Wall St tumbling overnight, as the fate of Detroit's Big Three car makers weighed on the market. The Dow Jones fell more than 5 per cent to 7997.12, the Nasdaq lost 6.3 per cent and the S&P500 fell 6 per cent to 807.26. The US losses echoed falls in Europe, where London's FTSE 100 index fell 4.82 per cent, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 4.03 per cent and the DAX in Frankfurt dropped 4.92 per cent.