The Australian share market is lower, weighed down by falls in the resources sector.
“Today’s sell-off is driven by nothing other than offshore leads,” Invast Securities chief market analyst Peter Esho said.
“I think the offshore leads were pretty weak, but I’m still quite positive on the Aussie market for this year, particularly the materials space.
“I think the sell-off in materials stocks today will be temporary.”
In the United States, Wall Street kicked off the new year in the red as investors took profits following solid gains in 2013.
Lower Chinese manufacturing growth figures also contributed to falls on US and European markets overnight.
Beijing’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) and the HSBC bank’s PMI index indicated that Chinese manufacturing growth was slower in December than it was in November.
On the local market, BHP Billiton had fallen 43 cents to $37.77, Rio Tinto was off 44 cents at $68.27, and Fortescue Metals had dropped 12 cents to $5.81.
Gold mining stocks were higher though, with Newcrest up 10 cents at $8.55
Among the major banks, Westpac had shed 19.5 cents to $32.145, ANZ had lost 13.5 cents to $32.085, Commonwealth Bank had retreated 47 cents to $77.37 and National Australia Bank was 23 cents lower at $34.60.
KEY FACTS
* At 1203 AEDT on Friday the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 29.6 points, or 0.55 per cent, at 5,338.3 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 29.2 points, or 0.54 per cent, at 5,340.6 points.
* The March share price index futures contract was 38 points lower at 5,307 points, with 9,074 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 435.3 million securities worth $591.4 million.
