Australian shares were little changed in early trading, as materials and energy stocks fell after commodities including base metals, gold and oil declined overnight.
Australian shares were little changed in early trading, as materials and energy stocks fell after commodities including base metals, gold and oil declined overnight.
Real estate stocks and some industrial stocks gained.
At 1039 AEST, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 11.2 points at 4,909.9, while the broader All Ordinaries index was 6.9 points higher at 4,997.1.
On the ASX 24, the June share price index futures contract was eight points higher at 4,925, with 14,471 contracts traded.
RBS Morgans director of equities Bill Chatterton said the materials and energy stocks had declined across the board.
"The overnight scene wasn't very exciting," he said.
World oil prices slumped for a second straight day on Tuesday after the International Energy Agency warned that recent high prices have hurt global demand for energy.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, closed down $US3.67 at $US106.25.
Oil stocks fell, with Woodside Petroleum losing 11 cents, or 0.23 per cent, to $46.72.
Base metals, including copper, aluminium and lead declined in London overnight.
Mr Chatterton said Woodside had also come off slightly as speculation subsided that BHP Billiton was interested in buying the company.
Santos declined 19 cents, or 1.21 per cent, to $15.55 and Oil Search fell 13 cents, or 1.74 per cent, to $7.32.
BHP Billiton, Australia's biggest oil producer as well as miner, lost 52 cents to $48.37 while Rio Tinto slipped $1.07, or 1.23 per cent, to $85.93.
Gold dropped as crude oil fell on the IEA warnings and as a bearish forecast from Goldman Sachs dragged the metal further from record highs.
US gold futures for June settled down $US14.50 at $US1,453.60 an ounce.
The spot gold price in Sydney was $US1,454.83 per fine ounce, down $US2.05 on Tuesday's local close of $US1,456.88.
The country's biggest gold miner, Newcrest Mining fell 24 cents to $40.86.
"The Australian dollar is still quite strong and that may be playing against a number of exporters," Mr Chatterton said.
Real estate stocks gained with GPT adding six cents to $3.09 and Dexus Property adding 1.5 cents to 86.5 cents.
Goodman Group said it was considering making an offer, as part of a consortium, to acquire ProLogis European Properties FCP (PEPR), which has a capitalisation of 1 billion euros ($A1.39 billion). Goodman rose one cent to 69 cents.
Industrial stocks to gain included QR National, adding seven cents, or 2.08 per cent, to $3.45, Qantas, rising seven cents, or 3.3 per cent, to $2.19, and Transurban, advancing seven cents, or 1.33 per cent, to $5.34.
In company news on Wednesday, gambling giant Tabcorp reported a 5.4 per cent rise in normalised net revenue for the March quarter. The stock gained 14 cents, or 1.93 per cent, to $7.38.
The best performer among the top 100 was Resmed, rising seven cents, or 2.33 per cent, to $3.07. Fairfax was the worst, falling 2.5 cents, or 1.92 per cent, to $1.28.
The most traded stock by volume was Cellmid, which signed a collaboration with Antitope which was expected to deliver a new antibody drug candidate.
Cellmid gained 1.5 cents, or 56 per cent, to 4.2 cents, as 118 million shares worth $4.6 million were traded.
National turnover was 683.6 million shares, worth $1.18 billion, with 270 stocks trading up, 467 down, and 365 unchanged.
