The Australian stock market has fallen into the red, driven by negative leads from overseas markets on concerns about China’s slowing growth.
The release of Chinese trade numbers on Friday and US non-farm payrolls data will be closely watched.
IG market strategist Evan Lucas said there was growing pessimism around China for 2014, evident in falls in the prices of resources stocks and industrial metals such as copper.
Also dragging on the Australian market was Rupert Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox after it announced plans late on Thursday to remove its listing from the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), following its demerger from News Corp last year.
Its voting shares had slumped by $1.81, or 4.75 per cent, to $36.27 and non-voting stock was off $1.34, or 3.47 per cent, to $37.30.
“It has certainly caused a stir in their share price. There is no talk of a share buyback or anything like that to mediate any sort of issue with them moving their shares to the other side of the world,” Mr Lucas said.
Elsewhere, the major miners were the biggest drag on the market with financials and consumer staples performing well.
BHP Billiton was down 65 cents to $36.32 and Rio Tinto had lost $1.61 to $63.39.
KEY FACTS
* At 1235 AEDT on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 14.1 points, or 0.26 per cent, at 5,310.3.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 14.4 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 5,313.1.
* The March share price index futures contract was 16 points lower at 5,277, with 8,817 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 834 million securities worth $1.4 billion.