The share market has fallen after surprisingly strong economic growth figures cast doubts on the prospects of another interest rate cut.

Shares were already under pressure following falls on Wall Street and major European markets, before stronger than expected economic growth numbers triggered selling of high yielding stocks, including the big four banks, that had recently rallied on expectations of another Reserve Bank rate cut, IG market analyst Angus Nicholson said.

“GDP came in much higher than many expected, we saw the market’s pricing for a rate cut in August decline below 50 per cent,” he said.

“A lot of the rallies we have seen in the past week or two have been driven by people looking for high dividend paying stocks, piling into the banking stocks in particular, because in a low rate environment there is a real incentive to hold the stocks that pay good dividends.”

GDP rose 1.1 per cent in the March quarter, the strongest quarterly rise in four years, putting annual growth at 3.1 per cent.

National Australia Bank shed 39 cents, or 1.4 per cent, to $26.76, Commonwealth Bank dropped 93 cents, or 1.2 per cent, to $76.50, Westpac declined 33 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $30.37 and ANZ fell 28 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $25.20.

Macquarie Group also fell, losing $1.17, or 1.6 per cent, to $73.70.

The mining giants were also weaker, with BHP Billiton down 59 cents, or 3.1 per cent, at $18.49 and Rio Tinto down 90 cents, or two per cent, at $43.79.

Oil giant Woodside Petroleum shed 49 cents to $26.91 and Santos lost 18 cents to $4.35.

Telstra dropped seven cents to $5.52.

KEY FACTS:

* At 1615 AEST on Wednesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 55.4 points, or 1.03 per cent, at 5,323.2 points.

* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 52.6 points, or 0.97 per cent, at 5,395.2 points.

* The June share price index futures contract was down 53 points at 5,329 points, with 41,941 contracts traded

* National turnover was 3.04 billion securities traded, worth $5.4 billion.