Aust stocks open flat

The Australian sharemarket has opened flat after falls in the United States and European markets last week after the local bourse was closed for a public holiday on Friday.

At the 10.15am (AEST) official market open, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index edged down 0.1 points to 5,530.9 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index inched down 1.4 points, or 0.03%, to 5,514.1 points.

IG market strategist Evan Lucas said tensions in Ukraine are mounting again and sanctions on Russian officials are likely to disrupt normal trading conditions.

"Geo-political tensions are already playing havoc with European exchanges," Mr Lucas said.

"The European rout translated across the Atlantic into United States trade, which saw the DOW and the S&P lose 0.8% or more at the close of Wall Street on Friday.

"This will mean that Asia is starting the week on the back foot, and considering most Australian investors have taken the last two weeks off, having opened set-and-forget positions, profit lock-in is also likely to figure in today’s trade."

The best-performing sector on the local market was information technology, which rose 1.34%, with Computershare rising 1.53 per cent to $12.61.