The sharemarket has lost early gains to again be in the red, after suffering its heaviest one-day fall in six months on Tuesday.
Local stocks opened slightly higher on Wednesday after gains on Wall Street overnight.
But by early afternoon the All Ordinaries index had fallen and was down by 0.13 per cent.
CMC chief market analyst Ric Spooner said a rise on equity markets and in emerging market commodities overnight was just a bump on a continuing downward road.
“In terms of charting they were fairly minor rallies that didn’t do anything to really disturb the ongoing downtrends,” he said.
The local resources industry was mixed, with BHP Billiton down 28 cents at $35.22, Rio Tinto up 19 cents at $64.30 and Fortescue Metals up 10 cents at $5.29.
Australia’s biggest goldminer Newcrest Mining was also higher, having gained six cents at $10.22.
But the major banks were all down.
Commonwealth Bank was down 15 cents at $73.05, National Australia Bank had fallen 18 cents to $32.21, Westpac had dropped 21 cents to $30.19, and ANZ was eight cents weaker at $29.23.
Real estate advertiser REA Group continued to bask in the glory of Tuesday’s earning results – a 37 per cent profit increase – adding a further $1.61 to $45.39.
KEY FACTS
* At 1245 AEDT on Wednesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 11.2 points, or 0.22 per cent, at 5085.9.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 8.5 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 5,105.6.
* The March share price index futures contract was 17 points lower at 5033, with 21,668 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 922 million securities worth $2.5 billion.
