Patersons Securities economist Tony Farnham said the local market was expected to open lower on the back of Wall Street’s looses while investors keenly awaited earnings reports from local companies.

“Now, for us, it comes down to the serious start of our reporting cycle,” Farnham said, noting that JB Hi-Fi had reported reasonable guidance numbers.

The miners are lower, hurt by oil and base metal price falls.

Financial stocks are under the spotlight as investors focus on earnings and outlook commentary, with the Commonwealth kicking off the big four banks’ reporting season on Wednesday.

A report that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission is investigating allegations of rate rigging among the big four had spooked investors, Mr Farnham said.

The Australian Financial Review newspaper says ASIC may file civil action against the ANZ. The bank has declined to comment.

Commonwealth Bank shares were down 45 cents, at $76.15, ANZ had lost 40 cents to $23.69, Westpac had fallen 23 cents to $30.12 and National Australia Bank was three cents worse off at $26.43.

Energy company Woodside Petroleum had dropped 48 cents to $26.77, Rio Tinto was down 44 cents at $41.18 and BHP had declined 29 cents to $15.91.

At 10.10am (AEDT) on Monday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 41.3 points, or 0.83 per cent, at 4,934.9, while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 40.5 points, or 0.81 per cent, at 4,985.1.

On the ASX 24, the share price futures index was down 39 points at 4,884, with 8,461 contracts traded.

At 6.45am (AEDT) on Monday, the share price futures index was down 56 points at 4,867

Friday’s Wall Street action suggested some hedge funds may have been taking a harder look at valuations.

“There’s a lot of portfolio de-risking going on and high valuation securities are often the first to be sold. It’s also the securities that have done extremely well,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York.

“It’s a valuation call and it shows concern for the overall market.”

In local economic news on Monday, the ANZ job advertisements series for January is due out.

In equities news, protective glove and condom maker Ansell and JB Hi-Fi are slated to post half year results, while Bitcoin group is expected to list on ASX.

In Australia, the market on Friday closed with a modest fall as weakness in financial and retail stocks were partly offset by gains by the big miners.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 4.2 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 4,976.2 points.

The broader All Ordinaries index lost 3.7 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 5025.6 points

NEW YORK – The Nasdaq Composite that includes large-cap technology names like Alphabet, Microsoft and Facebook has led another broad rout on Wall Street, closing at its lowest level since October 2014.

Many stocks that had led on the way up in 2015 led the way down this week. Recent earnings and economic reports, including a tepid jobs report, seemed to confirm investors’ fear that the US economy, and corporate spending, are slowing.

Dismal sales forecasts from marquee technology names sent some high-profile shares crashing as investors questioned whether information-technology managers would keep spending on their products.

Friday’s action suggests some hedge funds may be taking a harder look at valuations.

“There’s a lot of portfolio de-risking going on and high valuation securities are often the first to be sold. It’s also the securities that have done extremely well,” Ghriskey said.

“It’s a valuation call and it shows concern for the overall market.”

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 211.61 points, or 1.29 per cent, to 16,204.97, the S&P 500 lost 35.4 points, or 1.85 per cent, to 1,880.05 and the Nasdaq Composite closed down 146.42 points, or 3.25 per cent, to 4,363.14.

LONDON – Britain’s top share index has lost ground as investors digested a weaker-than-expected US jobs reading, with miners pulled lower as copper dipped.

Trading was choppy following a US jobs report which disappointed market consensus, with the US non-farm payrolls figure coming in lower than expected at 151,000, as opposed to an expected increase of 190,000.

“It just adds to the picture … of uncertainty with respect to global growth, rather than giving us some reassurance,” Ken Odeluga, market analyst at City Index, said.

The commodity-heavy index was pegged back as the US dollar rallied, causing metals prices to drop.

Analysts said that some aspects of the report were more encouraging, muddying the picture of the strength of the US economy.

“Immediate reaction in the market has not necessarily followed the headline numbers – it’s followed the underlying strength in the US jobs market shown by the unexpectedly strong rise in average hourly earnings,” City Index’s Odeluga said.

HONG KONG – Asian stocks were subdued and the us dollar wobbled ahead of the closely watched US non farm payrolls jobs report.

Shanghai stocks, crawled up 0.2 per cent and Australian shares dipped 0.1 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei underperformed, dropping 1.4 per cent and headed for its fourth straight day of losses.

“The biggest concern for the Japanese market now is whether the dollar will weaken against the yen further,” said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo.

“You don’t know how US stocks will perform after the jobs data release, so most investors are nervous.”

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng drew cues from an overnight Wall Street bounce and rose 0.8 per cent, while other gainers included Malaysian and Singapore shares.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.5 per cent. The index was still on track to end the week roughly unchanged.

WELLINGTON – The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 16.09 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 6,153.80.

ASX stocks to watch Monday, February 8

ANN – ANSELL: Protective glove and condom maker Ansell is expected to post half year results on Monday.

BCG – BITCOIN GROUP: Bitcoin Group is slated to list on the ASX on Monday.

BHP – BHP BILLITON

FMG – FORTESCUE METALS GROUP

RIO – RIO TINTO: Mining company shares could benefit with the price of iron ore lifting just above $US45.

JBH – JB HI-FI: JB Hi-Fi is slated to post half year results.

ORG – ORIGIN ENERGY

OSH – OILSEARCH

STO – SANTOS

WPL – WOODSIDE PETROLEUM

Energy companies could again be in the spotlight with the price of oil head back toward $US30.

AAP