Aust stocks open lower

The local market has opened lower following falls on Wall Street overnight amid warnings of weaker company profits and more hints of United States Federal Reserve stimulus tapering.

At the 1015 AEST official market open, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell 0.76% to 5,066.9 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index lost 0.73% to 5,050.8 points.

United States shares fell after Federal Reserve Chicago President Charles Evans said he would not rule out any tapering of quantitative easing occurring this year.

Locally, Rivkin analyst Tim Radford said real interest rates had effectively fallen to zero after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut the cash rate 25 basis points to 2.5% yesterday.

"We should see risk seeking behaviour among local investors increase substantially, leading to high yielding Australian stocks such as Telstra and the big four banks becoming targets," Mr Radford said.

"While the recent uptrend in the broader Australian market looks a bit overdone, the low-interest rate environment and the rotation from cash and fixed interest to equities should see stocks push to new multi-year highs."

In economic news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases housing finance data for June.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of Australia assistant governor (Financial Markets) Guy Debelle is scheduled to take part in a panel discussion at the Funding Australia's Future Forum hosted by the Australian Centre For Financial Studies.

In equities news, BHP chief executive Andrew Mackenzie is slated to speak at an Asia Society Australia lunch in Melbourne.

In Australia, the market on Tuesday close lower with the Reserve Bank of Australia's rate cut failing to lift the Australian share market into positive territory from its morning falls.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 5.7 points, or 0.11%, at 5,105.6 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index lost 5.8 points, or also 0.11%, to 5,088.0 points.