Australian stocks: close lower as US lead weighs local bourse down

The higher oil price was a boon for local energy stocks with Woodside 48 cents stronger at A$43.00, Santos putting on 24 cents to A$12.72 and Oil Search gaining six cents to A$3.90.

"The oil stocks were pretty well keenly sought because one of the issues with the rising oil price is their profitability should improve," Mr Xiradis said.

The big miners lost ground with Rio Tinto down 75 cents to A$73.25 and BHP Billiton inching 19 cents lower to A$24.47.

Queensland coal miner Macarthur Coal was steady at A$4.94 after it confirmed it was on track to meet its first half net profit.

The major banks all headed into negative territory with the Commonwealth Bank sliding down 52 cents to A$43.48, ANZ relinquishing 21 cents to A$24.28, National Australia Bank losing 13 cents to A$33.06 and Westpac giving up 18 cents to A$22.61.

Other financials were also pushed lower with Macquarie Bank falling A$1.35 to A$69.50 and St George Bank 29 cents lower at A$29.26.

Takeover target Wattyl climbed four cents higher to A$3.46 after it offered shareholders a special dividend to help fend off Allco Equity Partners.

Fertiliser producer Incitec Pivot said it was cautiously optimistic about its performance this year and its shares lost 35 cents to A$16.25.

Telstra lost three cents to A$3.96.

Media stocks were also weaker with Fairfax giving up seven cents to A$3.92, PBL sliding 10 cents to A$16.95, News Corp losing eight cents to A$22.70 and its non-voting shares slipping 14 cents to A$21.51.

The spot price of gold was A$US555 an ounce by 1633 AEDT, down A$US3.50 an ounce from Friday's local close.

The gold miners were mixed with Newcrest bucking the market trend to close 47 points up at A$24.72.

Newmont Mining dropped 18 cents to A$7.63 while Lihir Gold inched up one cent to A$2.45.

Information technology company Multiemedia was the most traded stock with 52.9 million shares traded for a total value of A$642,411.

The stock lost 0.1 of a cent to 1.1 cents.

Preliminary national turnover was 1.159 billion shares worth a total of A$3.36 billion with 337 stocks moving up, 737 down and 308 unchanged.

 - AAP