ASXmidday updates

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DJ Australia Shares Midday: Down 0.7%, Hits 3-Day Low 22/03/2010 12:57PM AEST  

SYDNEY (Dow Jones)--The Australian share market Monday has succumbed to a pullback on Wall Street, hitting a three-day low, with the heavyweight financials, materials and energy sectors leading broad-based declines to start the week.

At 0140 GMT, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was down 36.1 points, or 0.7%, at 4836.1, after falling to 4827.8 in early trading. Volume has been fairly light due to a public holiday in Japan.

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%, ending an eight-day winning streak, amid uncertainty about U.S. health care reform and European sovereign debt. Commodity prices also fell Friday, as the U.S. dollar rose and India lifted interest rates.

Nevertheless, most traders aren't overly concerned about the Australian share market.

"The market never goes up in a straight line and it had a great run up recently," said Macquarie private wealth division director Martin Lakos.

Traders are awaiting the outcome of a U.S. House of Representatives vote on President Obama's health care reform bill, expected later Monday, or late Sunday in the U.S.

"The market might steady up once we see the outcome of the U.S. vote on health care," said Lakos.

BHP Billiton is anchoring the market with a 1.6% fall to A$42.53, in line with a fall in its ADR equivalent price on Friday. Rio Tinto is down 1.4% at A$75.15.

Also in the materials sector, Newcrest is down 1.5% at A$33.20 and Lihir Gold down 1.9% at A$3.14, with spot gold trading near US$1,106.44, from US$1026.95 early Friday.

ANZ is weakest of the banks, down 1.3% at A$24.79, while Westpac is down 0.9% at A$27.18.

In the energy sector, Woodside Petroleum is up 3 cents at A$46.74 after announcing plans to report in U.S. dollars from next financial year, a move which Woodside says will provide shareholders with a more accurate reflection of its underlying performance.

Arrow Energy is down 3.4% at A$5.11 after agreeing to a revised takeover bid from Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina. The revised bid for Arrow Energy doesn't include its international assets, which will list on the Australian stock exchange as Dart Energy.