Aussie stocks fall as headwinds near

Aussie stocks stumbled on Tuesday, down almost half a percent as investors eye global headwinds in June.

At the close on Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 23.30 points, or 0.44 percent at 5,295.60 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 23.00 points, or 0.43 percent at 5,361.90 points.

Though the market was down, it's more impressive that the financials are holding back losses despite looking overvalued, up 5.5 percent since the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA's) rate cut earlier in May while U.S. financials have declined four weeks in a row, IG market strategist Evan Lucas told Xinhua.

"It's a positive thing that the ASX is missing out on it," Lucas said.

However "I can't see a catalyst to push (the market) up (past) 5,400 points" as it's not sure how much longer the banks can hold out as the global events begin to take shape, namely a possible U.S. rate hike in June and the uncertainty surrounding Britain's "Brexit" referendum, Lucas said.

Banking stocks are likely to come under pressure early Wednesday as the "European session will be interesting" following Moody's downgrade of Deutsche Bank to two notches above junk status, Lucas said, which will undoubtedly cause ripples in European and U.S. equities overnight.

On Tuesday, ANZ was down 0.68 percent, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia lost 0.51 percent, the National Australia Bank fell 0.63 percent and Westpac slipped 0.40 percent.

BHP Billiton edged 0.05 percent higher, rival Rio Tinto added 0.45 percent while gold miner Newcrest was 1.23 percent weaker.

Oil Search slid 1.51 percent, Santos dropped 1.88 percent and Woodside Petroleum was down 1.27 percent.

Wesfarmers slumped 1.76 percent while rival Woolworths was 0.86 percent weaker.

Qantas shed 3.12 percent and Telstra was 1.24 percent lower.

Endit