THE share market has fallen in opening trade, after mixed results on Wall Street on Friday.
At 10.15am (AEST) the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 6.6 points, or 0.14 per cent, at 4682.4, while the broader All Ordinaries index had fallen 5.1 points, or 0.11 per cent, at 4753.1.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange at 10.31am, the December share price index contract was 13 points lower at 4689, with 6816 contracts traded.
US stocks overall closed higher on Friday, although banks were sold down amid the deepening concerns about the so-called foreclosures scandal.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 31.79 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 11,062.78 points, but the broader S&P 500 index was 2.38 points, 0.20 per cent, higher at 1176.19 points.
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The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 33.39 points,or 1.37 per cent, to 2468.77 amid a strong quarterly result from Google.In local trade at 10.15am the Commonwealth Bank was down 12c at $50.98, Westpac was up 6c at $22.99, National Australia Bank was off 10c at $25.39 and ANZ rose 2c at $23.83.
Macquarie Group was up 14c at $34.40.
News that mining giants BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Ltd had decided to abandon a $US116 billion joint venture of their iron ore assets seemed to influence their share prices.
Investors had been concerned an equalisation payment BHP would have paid Rio if the tie-up proceeded was too small, and at 10.15am shares in BHP were down 22c at $41.43 and Rio was up 10c at $83.30.
CommSec market analyst Juliette Saly said the fairly flat start to trading had seen the market outperforming doomsayers.
"It wasn't such a strong lead from Wall Street and commodity prices weren't that strong," Ms Saly said.
"In terms of BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto there has been a little bit of weakness as the shock value goes through, but the fact this joint venture is not going ahead is no real surprise."
In other news, gambling firm Tabcorp Holdings, in a trading halt, said it will demerge its casinos operations from its wagering, gaming and keno businesses.
Tabcorp shares last traded at $7.10.
Shares in Sigma Pharmaceuticals at 10.37am were flat, after it said it had extended an exclusivity agreement with Aspen Pharmacare Holdings to October 29.
Among the department stores, Myer was trading flat at $3.85 at 10.39am and David Jones was up 3c at $4.86.
Former David Jones boss Mark McInnes today confirmed there had been a settlement of the sexual harassment lawsuit against the company. David Jones has confirmed the settlement amount is $850,000.
Funds manager Perpetual Ltd was in a trading halt after it revealed it had received a non-binding takeover proposal from a US firm that values the company at around $1.75 billion.
1 big trade led to market plungeStocks open lower on weak US lead
