The Australian stock market has started the week lower amid a selloff in banking and resources stocks.
CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner says the week start followed a lacklustre Friday session on Wall Street and continued the slide in local stocks that started mid-November.
“We’ve seen quite a significant portfolio adjustment in recent weeks which has pushed our market down and there’s no reason to believe today is the day to turn that around,” he said.
But, Mr Spooner said, the extended period of weakness meant local stocks were likely to respond more strongly to any good news over the next week.
Banking and resources stocks were among the biggest drags on the market on Monday.
Of the major banks, Westpac lost 17 cents to $30.83, NAB dropped 35 cents to $33.00, Commonwealth Bank fell 53 cents to $73.67 and ANZ was down eight cents to $30.17
Diversified mining giant BHP Billiton lost 29 cents to $35.56, Rio Tinto fell 63 cents to $64.46 while Fortescue Metals was flat at $5.36.
KEY FACTS
* At 1030 AEDT on Monday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 20.6 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 5,077.8 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 19.2 points, or 0.38 per cent, at 5,082.3 points.
* The December share price index futures contract was down 16 points at 5,079 points, with 43,798 contracts traded.
* National turnover was $178 million securities worth $369 million.
