Weak commodity prices and big losses on Wall Street have dragged the Australian share market lower.
Fears of a US rate rise in June have hurt the US and Australian equity markets and a stronger US dollar is weakening commodity prices, CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner said.
“The market is firming up expectations of a US interest rate hike,” he said.
“A stronger US dollar is weakening commodity prices which has an impact on a significant sector of our market.”
He said investors were seeking alternative markets to equities, including bond markets, due the soaring US dollar and expected US interest rate rise.
Diversified miner BHP Billiton went ex-dividend on Wednesday, putting more pressure on its share price.
At 1200 AEDT, BHP Billiton had dumped $1.55, or 4.86 per cent, to stand at $30.36, Rio Tinto was 66 cents lower, or 1.13 per cent, at $57.89 and iron ore miner Fortescue Metals was down nine cents, or 4.46 per cent, at $1.93.
Woodside Petroleum had dropped 16 cents to $34.73 but oil and gas explorer Santos was up three cents to $7.36.
Among the big banks, Commonwealth Bank was down 24 cents at $90.44, Westpac had fallen 21 cents to $37.46, ANZ was five cents weaker at $35.25 and National Bank had shed 15 cents to $37.61.
Telstra was flat at $6.20.
Shares in Gold Coast theme park owner Ardent Leisure Group have dropped more than 17 per cent, or 42 cents to $2.01.
The group has issued a statement acknowledging a steep share price fall and confirming that a conference call was held between company executives, investors and analysts before the market opened on Wednesday.
The statement says no additional information was disclosed to conference call participants beyond that which was set out in the ASX release about the retirement of its chief executive Greg Shaw.
KEY FACTS
* At 1200 AEDT on Wednesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 31.9 points, or 0.55 per cent, at 5,792.3.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 32.1 points, or 0.55 per cent, at 5,762.2.
* The March share price index futures contract was down 21 points at 5,789 with 17,114 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 693 million securities worth $1.68 billion.