The benchmark S&P/ASX200 and All Ordinaries indices opened in the red but soon recovered, after Wall Street closed flat overnight.

Patersons Securities wealth adviser Sam Fimis said there is a lot of concern about China and an oil price spiral, noting that the All Ordinaries index has fallen 7.1 per cent since the start of 2016, with only two positive trading sessions in the year so far.

“Traditionally when that happens, the market’s in for a bit of rough time, when we get such a bad start,” Mr Fimis said.

“Every headline is saying China’s stock market’s crashing and the oil price is crashing, and because we’re so heavily reliant on commodities and energy it’s impacting the bigger end of our market.”

BHP Billiton fell nine cents in early trade to $14.64 after the company announced another $1 billion hit to its bottom line, and lowered its annual iron ore production target.

The mining giant’s half year results will include writedowns worth $US911 million ($A1.32 billion), related to redundancies and closures and a revaluation of its copper business.

Fortescue Metals was down four cents at $1.49 and Rio Tinto had dropped 26 cents to $38.52.

In the financial sector, Macquarie Group was up $1.20 at $75.17 and Insurance Australia Group had added eight cents to $5.08.

The big four banks were mixed, with National Australia Bank up 23 cents at $27.28 and Commonwealth Bank up 43 cents at $79.62, while ANZ had fallen five cents to $24.59 and Westpac was six cents weaker at $31.14.

– AAP