Shares fall again, erasing all gains for the month

The Australian Securities Exchange  in Sydney
In the mining sector, BHP fell 1.7 per cent after walking away from its bid for Anglo American. -AAP Image

The local bourse has erased its gains for the month and recorded its seventh losing day out of the last eight sessions as sentiment turns increasingly bearish.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Thursday finished down 37.4 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 7,628.2, while the broader All Ordinaries dropped 39.8 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 7,895.9.

The Australian dollar was buying 65.97 US cents, from 66.58 US cents at Wednesday's ASX close.