The Australian share market closed lower today, despite a healthy debut on the market for health insurer Medibank Private.
The All Ordinaries index closed down 28 points or 0.5 per cent at 5,321, while the ASX 200 fell 27 points to 5,335.
The Australian dollar also fell after being boosted when the Chinese interest rate was cut late on Friday.
Medibank Private began trading at midday (AEDT), opening at $2.22, well above the $2.00 a share paid by retail investors.
However, it could not sustain those gains and closed at $2.14, 7 per cent above its launch price but a cent less than the premium paid by institutional investors.
The mining sector drove the market’s fall overall, losing much of its gains from yesterday.
Among the more significant losses were 2.4 per cent for BHP Billiton, 1.5 per cent for Rio Tinto, and 5.7 per cent for Fortescue Metals Group.
It was a flat day for the finance sector, with a mixed performance from the major banks.
ANZ added 0.7 per cent and Westpac rose 0.3 per cent, but NAB fell 0.8 per cent and the Commonwealth slipped 0.3 per cent.
Telstra lost 0.5 per cent and Woolworths continued its poor recent run with a 0.5 per cent fall.
In the commodities sector, West Texas intermediate crude oil was selling for $US75.69 a barrel just before 5:00pm (AEDT).
At the same time, Tapis crude oil in Singapore was worth $US81.04 a barrel and spot gold was trading at around $US1,199 an ounce.
The Australian dollar closed weaker against the greenback and most of the other major currencies.
Just before 5:00pm (AEDT) it was worth around $US0.86, 69.2 euro cents, 54.8 British pence, 101.3 Japanese yen and 109.8 New Zealand cents.