At 10.15am (AEST), the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 6.2 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 3746.5, while the broader All Ordinaries had lost 5.7 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 3692.2.
The major sectors were all mixed.
Among the banks, Westpac was down 13 cents at $20.54, NAB lost 2 cents to $22.45, ANZ was 13 cents lower at $17.19 and Commonwealth Bank was up 3 cents at $36.59.
Miners followed the trend.
BHP Billiton lost 1 cent to $33.03 and rival Rio Tinto gained $1.41 to $58.15 ahead of its annual general meeting in London tonight
On Wall Street, the retail sales report overshadowed better-than-expected earnings reports from Johnson & Johnson and Goldman Sachs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 137.63 points, or 1.71 per cent, to 7920.18.The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 27.59 points, or 1.67 per cent, to 1625.72 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index retreated 17.23 points, or 2.01 per cent, to 841.50.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the June share price index contract was trading 15 points lower at 3749 on volume of 4993 contracts.
Share market gains ground
Shares fall 1.5pc at noon
