Aussie market opens flat echoing falls on Wall Street

Santa is no more for the Australian market as the flat open echoed market leading falls in offshore trade on Wall Street while key industrial commodities have slightly gained though remain under pressure.

At 1015 AEDT on Monday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 1.2 points, or 0.02 percent, at 5,105.5, while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 0.6 points, or 0.01 percent, at 5,155.9.

Hopes of a year end rally, or the Santa rally as it's commonly known, have been dashed following falls in Wall Street which underscored the U.S. playing in traditional role as leader of world market rallies, CMC markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner said.

"Even if it does materialise, any year-end rally may be just more range trading, rather than the beginning of a concerted push above resistance," Spooner noted.

The local index is currently down 5.2 percent for the year, needing quite a push to finish in the black, "snapping" three consecutive years of gains that have averaged 10.3 percent growth per year, IG market strategist Evan Lucas said.

"Come the next seven days we are still seeing some buying in this market" as oversold positions are closed and managers look to close their books on a positive note, Lucas said.

"We expect the ASX to remain above 5,000 points for a 'positive' end to a negative year."

Despite small gains in industrial commodities overnight, excluding oil, prices remain under pressure from market oversupply.

BHP is 0.18 percent weaker, rival Rio Tinto edged 0.16 percent down however gold miner Newcrest bounced 2.58 percent.

Oil Search is up 0.33 percent, Santos adds 1.73 percent while Woodside Petroleum is 0.60 percent stronger.

ANZ slips 0.53, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia is down 0.70 percent, the National Australia Bank loses 0.28 percent and Westpac is 0.40 percent lower.

Wesfarmers and Woolworths are 0.60 and 0.72 percent weaker respectively.

Qantas edges 0.13 percent higher and Telstra is down 0.91 percent. Endit