Aust share market finishes 1.5% lower

THE Australian market looks set to open slightly lower despite Wall Street reaching a five-year high as it shrugged off the risks to the world's largest economy of impending federal spending cuts and bid up equities

At 0630 AEDT on Monday, the March share price index futures contract was down five points at 5,069.

In economic news on Monday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases its business indicators for the December quarter and the building approvals for January data.

The TD Securities-Melbourne Institute inflation gauge for February is due out as is the ANZ job advertisements series for month just ended, the Dun and Bradstreet business expectations survey and the NAB quarterly online retail sales index.

No major equities news is expected.

In Australia, the market on Friday closed almost half a per cent lower as the major resources companies dragged the index down.

At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 18 points, or 0.35 per cent, lower at 5,086.1 while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 19.5 points, or 0.38 per cent, at 5,100.9.

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