KEY POINTS:
The Australian share market closed lower today, making this its ninth consecutive negative close for the first time in more than 12 years, after US markets closed in the red overnight.
At the 1615 AEDT close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 13.6 points to 5,796.1, while the
broader All Ordinaries had lost 13.8 points to 5,857.
The last time the Australian share market experienced nine consecutive negative closes was in September 1995.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index futures contract was down 32 points at 5,785 on a volume of 28,395 contracts.
Aequs Securities Pty Ltd institutional dealer Ric Klusman said the market started strongly, but fell on the back of volatility offshore.
"The market started off quite strong today on good domestic buying support expecting that the market was very close to bottom in the short term.
"The main reason it's down is they can't determine what's going on offshore, there are comments coming out of various places.
"For example, the S&P futures are showing up at the moment but the Dow futures are showing down. China is down, which is causing a bit of a problem, the Nikkei is up, and Hong Kong keeps... no one knows what's going on there at the moment."
Mr Klusman said concerns over a slowdown in commodity demand from China were affecting local miners today.
"There are still concerns that a general slow down recession in the US, irrespective of whether that will be eased by interest rates, will cause a slow down in commodity demand from China for supply in goods, hence BHP Billiton is down."
"The miners are getting hurt, banks generally are up and industrials are up.
"Tonight will be the test I guess, we've got Merrill Lynch tonight."
BHP Billiton closed down $1.02 to $36.50 and Rio Tinto shed $4.63, or 3.55 percent, to $118.60.
Among the major banks, the National Australia Bank jumped 63 cents to $35.37, Westpac added 28 cents to $25.69, and ANZ added 26 cents to $26.20.
But the Commonwealth Bank gave away $1.21, or 2.29 percent, to $51.53.
US equity markets had a volatile session overnight.
Stocks fell initially following a poor profit outlook from Intel, then rose following better than expected results from JP Morgan and Wells Fargo. But equities staged a late decline and ended the session in the red.
The Dow Jones industrial average settled down 34.95 points at 12,466.16, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index settled down 7.75 points at 1,373.20.
The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 23.00 points at 2,394.59.
The telcos closed weaker, with Telstra down three cents to $4.48, its instalment receipts also off three cents, to $2.92, and Optus-owner Singapore Telecommunications down one cent to $3.07.
The retail sector was mixed, with Woolworths down 56 cents to $31.40 and Wesfarmers down 35 cents to $36.89.
David Jones put on six cents to $4.83 and Harvey Norman firmed 22 cents to $6.04.
Qantas shares were up 16 cents to $4.81 after it said the delay in delivery of its first B787 Dreamliner aircraft would not affect earnings.
Media stocks mostly were stronger, with the exception of Fairfax which was down nine cents to $4.31.
News Corporation rose 73 cents to $23.15 and its non-voting scrip was up 56 cents to $22.21. Ten Network was up 11 cents to $2.58 and Consolidated Media was up nine cents to $3.90.
Centro Properties was up five cents, or 10.87 percent, to 51 cents.
The most heavily traded stock was technology hardware and equipment company Zylotech Ltd, with a total of 73.27 million shares changing hands at a value of $7 million.
Shares in Zylotech were up four cents, or 61.54 percent, to 10.5 cents.
Preliminary market turnover was 1.74 billion shares with a total value of $6.94 billion, with 530 stocks up, 726 down and 351 unchanged.
- AAP