Aussie stock market little soft

The Australian market was a little soft on Monday with a mixed performance in the heavyweight banks despite strength in energy.

At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 8.1 points, or 0.15 percent at 5,351.3 points, and the All Ordinaries was down 8.2 points, or 0.15 percent, at 5,419.3 points.

Australia's materials and financial sectors were virtually steady despite intra-day volatility with investors rotating to find yield, though the energy surged on gains in benchmark crude overnight.

"People (are) positioning for the possibility that we might actually see an announcement from OPEC on some sort of proposed production cut," CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner told Xinhua.

"With oil prices down here, I think they're a bit vulnerable to an announcement affect on that sort of things."

On Monday Oil Search rallied 1.46 percent, Santos surged 2.83 percent and Woodside Petroleum was 1.33 percent stronger.

ANZ fell 0.46 percent, the National Australia Bank slipped 0.07 percent, however the Commonwealth Bank of Australia edged 0.01 percent higher and Westpac lifted 0.52 percent.

BHP Billiton gained 0.75 percent, rival Rio Tinto climbed 0.03 percent, and gold miner Newcrest was up 0.82 percent.

Wesfarmers and rival Woolworths were 1.53 percent and 1.55 percent weaker respectively.

Qantas fell 0.64 percent, while telecom giant Telstra fell 1.01 percent. Endit