The Australian stock market is trading lower, with most sectors in retreat following soft leads from overseas.
The market is around one per cent lower, pushing it further away from the much-anticipated 6,000 point level.
CommSec market analyst Tom Piotrowski said the lack of a catalyst to push the market above the level meant traders were being cautious.
“I think the reality is that we are just seeing sellers err on the side of caution,” he said.
“So the fact that you saw some reasonable losses in European and US markets over the weekend was enough of an excuse for the market to pull back, but there’s nothing dire about it.”
Germany’s DAX 30 dropped more than two per cent on Friday night, while on Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and NASDAQ all lost more than one per cent.
Locally, in the resources sector, BHP Billiton was down 15 cents at $29.82, Rio Tinto was down 24 cents at $54.85 though Fortescue Metals had gained three cents to $1.90.
Woodside Petroleum was down 21 cents at $35.21, while Santos had lost nine cents to $7.87.
Among the banks, Commonwealth Bank was down 79 cents at $91.29, National Australia Bank had lost 43 cents to $38.29, ANZ had dropped nine cents to $35.51 and Westpac was 39 cents lower at $38.51.
KEY FACTS
* At 1240 AEST on Monday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 53.7 points, or 0.91 per cent, at 5,824.2 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 52.6 points, or 0.9 per cent, at 5,798.9 points.
* The June share price index futures contract was down 57 points at 5,808 points, with 18,598 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 872 million securities worth $1.9 billion.
