Aussie market falls, may break out of range trade

The Australian market took a turn for the worse early Friday as falls in commodities and oil hit the heavy resources stocks.

At 1020 local time (AEST), the S&P/ASX 200 index was down 53.20 points, or 0.99 percent at 5,308.70 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 49.00 points, or 0.90 percent at 5,388.40 points.

The 0.5 percent spike in the U.S. dollar overnight sent jitters through commodity markets overnight, which in tern has seen falls in local resources stocks, weighing on the index.

The Aussie market has been in a range trade over the past month. However, IG chief market strategist Chris Weston said there could be a break to the downside with a belief entering that there could be a bit of a topping out.

"It's interesting that we are seeing such weakness in the market when really there was no smoking gun," Weston told Xinhua.

"There seems to be a modest erosion of sentiment."

Traders are now starting to suggest there are a few risks in the market with stocks having high valuations, which is being compounded by heavy weights saying buy gold, Weston said.

In early Friday trade, BHP was down 3.82 percent, rival Rio Tinto fell 2.51 percent while gold miner Newcrest was 1.59 percent stronger.

Oil Search slid 2.00 percent, Santos slumped 3.12 percent and Woodside Petroleum lost 1.02 percent.

ANZ is down 1.39 percent, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia retreated 1.55 percent, the National Australia Bank lost 1.36 percent and Westpac was 1.38 percent weaker.

Wesfarmers and rival Woolworths were 1.19 percent and 0.92 percent lower respectively.

Qantas fell 0.66 percent and Telstra weakened by 0.73 percent in early trade. Endit