The Australian share market has fallen, weighed down by resources stocks, following a drop on overseas markets.

Shares opened in negative territory and remained there for day, IG market analyst Chris Weston said.

“We have priced in a pretty poor lead from Wall Street,” Mr Weston said.

“For the rest of the day we’ve traded within an 18 point range and that’s despite the Chinese market falling well over one per cent.”

In the United States, Wall Street kicked off the new year in the red as investors took profits following solid gains in 2013.

Trading volumes were light again on Friday, but most traders will be back at their desks on Monday, ahead of the release of important data from China and the start of US corporate earnings season, among other things.

“Next week we’ll have a clearer idea about whether the pullback we saw is for real or whether we’ll see a new wave of buying coming back into the market,” Mr Weston said.

Among the big miners, BHP Billiton fell 43 cents to $37.77, Rio Tinto shed 35 cents to $68.36 and Fortescue Metals was 11 cents lower at $5.82.

The gold miners performed better, with Newcrest up 22 cents at $8.67.

The big four banks underperformed, with Westpac flat at $32.34, ANZ lost one cent to $32.21, Commonwealth Bank shed 26 cents to $77.58 and National Australia Bank was 14 cents lower at $34.69.

KEY FACTS

* At the close on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 17.8 points, or 0.33 per cent, at 5,350.1.

* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 18 points, or 0.34 per cent, at 5,351.8.

* The March share price index futures contract was 33 points lower at 5,312, with 18,443 contracts traded.

* National turnover was 1.3 billion securities worth $2.2 billion.