The Australian share market is slightly lower due to weak commodity prices and subdued reaction to mixed company profit results.

Phillip Capital senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said the market has been underwhelmed by what he described as a solid week for company earnings, including good reports from Telstra and the Commonwealth Bank earlier in the week.

“We have had some pretty good results this week but unless they have been spectacular the share prices of good stocks are marked down,” he said.

“There haven’t been any major stocks moving upwards to give a bit of life to the market today.”

Recent declines in the iron ore price and uncertainty about whether the Chinese currency could be devalued further have hurt mining stocks.

BHP Billiton shed 19 cents to $25.32, Rio Tinto dropped 83 cents to $51.13 and Fortescue Metals lost 3.5 cents to $1.785.

Atlas Iron held its ground at 3.1 cents despite posting a $1.4 billion annual loss due to massive falls in the price of iron ore.

The energy sector suffered the heaviest losses after oil prices fell to a fresh six-year low on rekindled fears of an oil glut.

Woodside Petroleum was down $1.21 to $32.84, Santos was down 59 cents to $5.99 and Oil Search shed 22 cents to $6.70.

Among the better performers was Automotive Holdings which posted a 21 per cent lift in its full year profit thanks to new acquisitions and the ongoing expansion of its operations.

Its shares rose 3.33 per cent to $4.31.

James Hardie was flat at $17.95 after it downgraded its full year guidance despite lifting its first quarter profit by 27 per cent.

As for the banks, NAB fell 22 cents to $31.76, ANZ shed 47 cents to $29.29 and Westpac declined 47 cents to $31.33.

The CBA remains in a trading halt following its announcement of a $5 billion capital raising.

KEY FACTS

* At 1615 AEST, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 31.4 points, or 0.58 per cent, to 5,356.5 points.

* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 29 points, or 0.54 per cent, at 5,360 points.

* The September share price index futures contract was 37 points lower at 5,280, with 25,679 contracts traded.

* National turnover was 1.7 billion securities worth $3.97 billion.