Australian stocks have opened in the red following a selloff on Wall Street overnight.
The local market is around half a per cent lower, which is better than futures markets had anticipated following the falls in the US, where the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ all finished more than one per cent lower.
CMC Markets chief market strategist Michael McCarthy said it wasn’t surprising the selloff had been less significant than in the US, given the weakness on the market on Monday.
He said almost all market sectors began the day lower, although gold miners were among the few to buck the trend thanks to a higher gold price overnight.
Mr McCarthy said the market would likely remain in the red for the rest of the session.
“The technical picture has really soured over the last three trading days and we are expecting, in the short term, to see further pressure on the market,” he said.
The big four banks were among the worst performers, with the Commonwealth down 45 cents at $76.55, ANZ worse off by 24 cents at $31.08, Westpac dropping 17 cents to $31.84 and NAB 27 cents lower at $33.97.
Among the big miners, BHP was 37 cents lower at $36.19, Rio Tinto was down 32 cents at $63.19 and Fortescue had lost two cents to $5.12. But, gold miner Newcrest was eight cents higher at $8.95.
Telstra was three cents lower at $5.22.
Meanwhile, shares in Forge Group were 16 cents, or 12 per cent, lower after it announced a $28 million profit downgrade.
KEY FACTS
* At 1030 AEDT on Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 41 points, or 0.77 per cent, at 5,251.1.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 39.1 points, or 0.74 per cent, at 5,257.7.
* The March share price index futures contract was 49 points lower at 5,212, with 7,299 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 321 million securities worth $672 million.
