The share market is lower, with falls in all sectors, despite a strong lead from Wall Street.
The US market rallied overnight on shockingly low retail sales data, which bolstered the case for keeping US interest rates low.
The Australian market enjoyed its best gains in almost a month on Thursday after a fall in the unemployment rate, and CommSec market analyst Juliana Roadley said Friday’s fall was a reaction to those gains.
“We’ve probably seen a lot of the business that occurred in the US overnight already in our markets,” she said.
The two big miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, opened in the red despite a small lift in prices for base metals and iron ore, while the banks were also weaker.
Roadley said all eyes would be on telcos following internet provider TPG Telecom’s $1.4 billion takeover bid for rival iiNet.
Shares for both companies will begin trading at 1100 AEDT.
Roadley said some of the smaller telcos like Amcom were already making big gains in early trade.
“Probably because there’s been a lot of talk of consolidation in that sector,” she said.
Amcom had added six cents to $2.67, while Telstra was down two cents at $6.27.
BHP Billiton had fallen 35 cents to $29.85, Rio Tinto had lost 22 cents to $57.28 and iron or miner Fortescue Metals was 3.5 cents higher at $1.95.
Woodside Petroleum had gained 21 cents to $35.00 and Santos was six cents higher to $7.24.
Commonwealth Bank was down 12 cents at $91.70, Westpac was 15 cents lower at $37.94, ANZ had fallen two cents to $35.62 and National Australia Bank was two cents weaker at $37.98.
