The Australian share market has opened lower, led by weakness in resources stocks and commodity prices.

At 1015 AEDT on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 14.2 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 4,726.5 and the broader All Ordinaries index also fell 14.2 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 4,747.2.

On the ASX 24, the March share price index futures contract was down 18 points at 4,698 with 6,398 contracts traded.

IG Markets strategist Evan Lucas said investors are booking profits following recent gains and are waiting for fresh leads.

“We have moved up roughly eight to nine per cent over the last four to five weeks so it looks like a bit of consolidation with investors locking in profits they have made over that time,” he said.

“We expect to see that pretty much for the rest of the day as we wait to see what happens next week following the US unemployment data out tonight.”

The US Labor Department will release its non-farm payrolls report for December on Friday night (AEDT), the key indicator of American employment growth.

Mr Lucas said that, following recent rallies, resources stocks had taken a tumble at the open on Friday morning.

“They are coming off a little harder than we expected this morning,” he said.

“There was a report by an analyst out this morning suggesting that the buy up in the big miners had been overdone and that has obviously pushed them lower.”

At 1015 AEDT Rio Tinto had fallen $1.42 to $67.83, BHP Billiton had dropped 44 cents to $37.71 and Fortescue Metals were seven cents lower at $4.97.

Construction company Lend Lease moved higher in early trade after announcing a 170 million-pound ($A263 million) contract to construct two building in central London, its shares were up four cents to $8.54 by 1040 AEDT.

Macmahon Holdings was up half a cent to 29 cents by 1040 AEDT after announcing it had received a second bid for its construction company.