An early rally in the big banks ran out of puff on Monday, helping to push the local sharemarket into the red as steep drops in miners and poor local retail sales data took their toll on sentiment.
The S&P/ASX200 index slipped 0.1 per cent to close at 5615.6, despite opening 0.7 per cent higher.
miners were among the biggest drags on the market, with BHP Billiton falling 1.1 per cent and South32 sliding 4.4 per cent as commodity prices retreated. But Rio Tinto bucked the trend, gaining 0.6 per cent ahead of its earnings report on Wednesday.
While Wall Street trades near all-time highs, the local sharemarket has turned into one of the global underperformers in 2017, falling nearly 1 per cent since the start of the year as the Trump rally runs out of steam while local earnings season has started with a number of profit warnings. 2
Overnight the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 30 points, with UnitedHealth contributing the most losses.
The S&P 500 dropped 0.28 percent, with energy falling 0.95 percent to lead decliners.
The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2 percent.
Oil prices fell on Monday as a stronger dollar and ample U.S. supplies outweighed OPEC output curbs and rising tensions between the United States and Iran. Brent crude was trading down $1, or 1.8 percent, at $55.81 a barrel by 2:35 p.m. (1935 GMT). U.S. crude fell 82 cents, or 1.5 percent, to settle at $53.01.
