The Australian stock market is lower following soft overseas leads.

US markets were closed on Friday for the Independence Day public holiday and European stocks finished last week mostly in the red.

IG market analyst Stan Shamu said the market was relatively flat amid investor confusion about whether to buy stocks.

“It’s been a strong start to the month but at some point we were going to encounter some resistance,” he said.

“It looks like we will need a new catalyst to push this market higher.”

He said there was no major data to impact shares on Monday.

Resources stocks were mostly mixed, with BHP Billiton up one cent to $37.58 while Rio Tinto was down 37 cents to $62.27, Woodside Petroleum gained 20 cents to $42.00 and Fortescue Metals lost 10 cents to $4.58.

Among the banks, ANZ added two cents to $33.80 and National Australia Bank lost one cent to $33.72, while Westpac was nine cents lower at $34.31 and Commonwealth Bank was down 28 cents at $81.67.

Shares in travel company Wotif.com rose 24 per cent to $3.28 after global giant Expedia launched a $700 million takeover offer.

And poker machine maker Aristocrat has placed its shares in a halt while it carries out a capital raising to fund a $US1.28 billion acquisition of a US gaming group.

KEY FACTS

* At 1205 AEST on Monday the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had fallen 2.3 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 5,522.0.

* The broader All Ordinaries index had fallen 2.3 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 5,509.5.

* The September share price index futures contract was one point lower at 5,481, with 5,617 contracts traded.

* National turnover was 745 million securities worth $945 million.