Aust stocks open weaker

The Australian stock market opened more than half a per cent lower following mostly weaker leads from Wall Street despite the Dow and S&P 500 pushing to new records in early trade.

At the 1015 AEDT official market open, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index lost 0.6% to 5,352.3, while the broader All Ordinaries index was 0.56% lower at 5,347.8.

After 90 minutes of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 51.92 points (0.33%) at 16,013.62, after crossing the 16,000 milestone for the first time.

The broad-based S&P 500 made its first foray above 1,800, adding 1.96 (0.11%) at 1,800.14.

The surges were fuelled by a wave of new Boeing plane orders and continued positive investor sentiment for stocks.

Locally, in economic news on Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia releases the minutes of its monthly board meeting.

In equities news, Ruralco is expected to post full year results, while Seven Group, iiNet and Monadelphous have annual general meetings scheduled.

In Australia, the market on Monday closed in negative territory, despite positive offshore leads, kept down by falls in financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 17 points, or 0.31%, at 5,384.7.

The broader All Ordinaries index was down 18.3 points, or 0.34%, at 5,377.9.