Aussie shares are down
The Australian share market has opened lower after a pullback on Wall Street.
Mixed earnings reports triggered a broad market retreat in the US overnight, breaking a three-session winning streak.
Analysts said the pullback was not surprising given that the S&P 500 had surged 4.2 per cent in the prior three days.
The local share market still had a chance to recover during the day to post its eighth consecutive session of gains, IG Markets market strategist Stan Shamu said.
"It's a modestly weak start. We are, basically, tracking what happened in the US overnight," he said.
"In Australia, we are well supported at the moment. I don't think we're due for a pullback. There's some very good grounds for consolidation and the banks will likely be supported because they're heading into earnings."
He said solid output reports from miners were also boosting the market.
Among the big miners, BHP Billiton fell 59 cents to $33.68, Rio Tinto lost 93 cents to $60.28 and Fortescue Metals was 10 cents weaker at $3.56.
The banks were mixed during morning trade. Commonwealth Bank added 11 cents to $77.68, Westpac gained one cent to $33.75, but ANZ shed two cents to $32.66 and National Australia Bank fell three cents to $33.82.
Oil Search lost 11.5 cents, or 1.32 per cent, to $8.605, despite its promise to increase dividend payments to shareholders after lifting production 81 per cent during the September quarter.
AGL Energy has flagged a rise in underlying profit for this financial year, however it shares were down 33 cents, or 2.41 per cent, to $13.38.
Shares in health and beauty products supplier Australian Pharmaceutical Industries rose two cents to 69 cents after the owner of Priceline said it's confident of producing stronger earnings despite slumping into the red following a series of asset writedowns.
KEY FACTS
At 1015 AEDT on Thursday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 14 points, or 0.26 per cent, at 5,371.9 points.
The broader All Ordinaries index was down 13.3 points, or 0.25 per cent, at 5,360 points.
The December share price index futures contract was down 18 points at 5,359 points, with 6,299 contracts traded.
National turnover was 231 million securities worth $247 million.
