At 1027 AEDT, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 0.6 points, or 0.01 per cent, at 4,272.5 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index had fallen 0.6 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 4,363.5 points.
On the ASX 24, the March share price index futures contract was down two points at 4,276 points, with 6,475 contracts traded.
Gold was the worst-performing sector at the open, down 0.65 per cent according to IRESS data.
Metals and minerals stocks (down 0.39 per cent) and the materials sector (down 0.35 per cent) were also in negative territory.
However, on a positive note, info tech stocks were up 0.7 per cent.
"I think the key ingredient in the market at the moment is that we are progressing in what I would call a two steps forward one step back fashion,'' Austock Securities senior client adviser and strategist Michael Heffernan said.
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"That is light years in front of the period that we had last year.''
Also, Mr Heffernan said the past couple of weeks had featured a numerous companies going ex-dividend, which had acted as a drag on the market.
Wall Street closed lower on Friday night (AEDT) - the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.02 per cent, the S&P500 eased 0.32 per cent and the NASDAQ slipped 0.43 per cent.
Also, futures contract prices for commodities such as oil, gold and copper settled weaker in the US.
And the spot price of gold in Sydney was $US1,710.50 per ounce, down $US8.805 from Friday's local close of $US1,719.305 per ounce.
Making news on Monday, Optus's parent company Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) said it would restructure the business into three separate units from April 1, 2012.
Optus chief executive Paul O'Sullivan would lead one of those units, the Group Consumer business, SingTel said.
SingTel, which was listed in both Australia and Singapore, was steady at $2.33 in local trade.
Still to come on Monday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics was due to publish business indicators data for the December quarter at 1130 AEDT.
The report is one of the partial indicators in the lead-up this week's release of gross domestic product (GDP) numbers for the three months to December 31, 2011.
A private-sector survey on job advertisements were also due out on Monday.
National turnover was 329.0 million securities worth $408.6 million, with 328 stocks up, 288 down and 327 unchanged.
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