The Australian share market is lower at noon, dragged back by the big miners after fresh falls in commodity prices.

Prices for gold, silver and copper all fell overnight while oil was off by more than one per cent.

The China port price for iron ore, Australia’s biggest export, was flat at $US47 a tonne.

At noon, BHP Billiton was down 2.6 per cent ahead of its annual general meeting in Perth on Thursday where the global miner is expected to be quizzed on its dividends policy and the Samarco mine disaster in Brazil.

All the major gold miners were down by as much as seven per cent after a stellar run by that sector, with investors initially piling into the defensive stock as the Paris terror attacks created uncertainty.

The big banks were weak.

KEY FACTS

* At 1200 AEDT, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 26.1 points, or 0.51 per cent, at 5,092.1 points.

* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 24.1 points, or 0.47 per cent, at 5,150.2 points.

* The December share price index futures contract was down 23 points at 5101 points, with 12,782 contracts traded.

*At 1204 AEDT, national turnover was 913 million securities worth $1.6 billion.