The Australian stock market is trading weak on Tuesday with investors pressing sales, tracking cues from Wall Street where stocks ended slightly lower overnight amid a lack of fresh triggers.
Consumer discretionary, financial, healthcare and industrial stocks are mostly trading lower, while energy, mining and property trusts stocks are trading mixed.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index, which declined to 5,168.3, is currently trading at 5,181, down 28 points or 0.5 percent from its previous close. The broader All Ordinaries index is down 25.9 points or 0.5 percent at 5,159.5, off the day's low of 5,146.3.
Among bank stocks, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac (WBK) are down 0.8 to 1.2 percent, while ANZ Bank is trading lower by 1.8 percent.
In the mining space, BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) are down 0.5 percent and 1 percent, respectively.
Downer EDI is trading lower by more than 9 percent. Monadelphous Group is trading 5 percent down and ALS is down with a loss of about 4 percent.
Arrium, Ramsay Healthcare, Mineral Resources, UGL, David Jones, James Hardie Industries, Lend Lease Group, Harvey Norman Holdings and Leighton Holdings are trading lower by 2 to 3 percent.
Among the notable gainers, Perseus Mining is trading higher by more than 7 percent, Newcrest Mining is up 5.8 percent and Regis Resources is advancing with a gain of 4.8 percent. Iluka Resources and PanAust are trading higher by 2.7 percent.
On the economic front, the Conference Board's Index of Leading Economic Indicators for Australia increased by 0.1 percent in March, the Board reported Tuesday. It marked the third straight monthly Leading Index gain.
The board said gains from building approvals, money supply and the yield spread more than offset a negative contribution from stock prices. The board's Coincident Index, which measure current conditions, increased 0.2 percent.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar opened higher against the U.S. dollar. In early trades, the Aussie was quoting at US$0.9812, up from Monday's close of US$0.9757.
On Wall Street, stocks ended modestly lower on Monday after showing a lack of direction throughout much of the session as traders were reluctant to make any significant moves amid a lack of major U.S. economic data.
The major averages ended the day below the unchanged line but off their lows for the session. The Dow dipped 19.1 points or 0.1 percent to 15,335.3, the Nasdaq edged down 2.5 points or 0.1 percent to 3,496.4 and the S&P 500 slipped 1.2 points or 0.1 percent to 1,666.3.
Major European markets moved higher on Monday. While the German DAX index ended the day up by 0.7 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index and the French CAC 40 index both gained 0.5 percent.
U.S. crude oil ended settled higher for a fourth straight session on Monday, ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meet outcome, tracking rising global equity markets after the dollar weakened against a basket of major currencies.
Crude for July delivery ended up $0.64 or 0.7 percent at $96.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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