Australia's share market has posted its worst day in four weeks, after a weekend slump in commodity prices dragged on the raw materials sector.
The S&P/ASX200 fell 62.3 points on Monday, down 0.72 per cent to 8,635, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 59.5 points, or 0.66 per cent, to 8,923.8.
BHP led the mega cap miners lower, tumbling more than three per cent despite relatively steady iron ore futures, after new home prices in China fell for a 29th month and retail sales figures undershot forecasts.
"The ASX started the week on the back foot there with the weak lead from Wall Street on Friday night, but I think really, what's compounded that is the Chinese data dump today has been pretty grim," IG market analyst Tony Sycamore told AAP.
"Falls in the in the property market there have actually started to accelerate a little bit to the downside again and factory output, retail sales, were all really dire, amounting to a pretty bad day for the materials sector, which is exposed to the Chinese property market and the Chinese economy."
The sector plummeted 2.2 per cent by the close, wiping most of the previous week's gains.
Ten of 11 local segments ended the session lower, with only consumer discretionary stocks notching a 0.5 per cent win with some help from JB Hi-Fi, Bunnings owner Wesfarmers, and Temple and Webster finding some bargain hunters after recent share price weakness.
Gold stocks broadly sold off, despite the underlying commodity recovering from a weekend sell-off to trade $US4,327 ($A6,511) an ounce.
Evolution, which also produces copper, slumped 3.8 per cent to $12.28, while Genesis Minerals and Ramelius Resources plummeted more than five per cent each.
Critical minerals producers were also under pressure, with lithium stocks Liontown and Pilbara Minerals shedding 6.4 per cent and 3.9 per cent, while Lynas Rare Earths slipped almost two per cent.
The heavyweight financials sector grinded less than 0.1 per cent lower, as a slip in CBA and Macquarie's share prices counterbalanced a 1.2 per cent boost to ANZ and modest gains from NAB and Westpac.
Energy stocks struggled, as oil prices lingered on par with eight week lows, and as uranium stocks sold off as investors weighed the possibility of an artificial intelligence bubble after less-than-perfect tech earnings prompted sell-offs in Oracle and Broadcom the previous week.
Laser enrichment technology Silex Systems was the top-200's worst performer, down 6.9 per cent, while Droneshield soared to the other end of the table with a more than 10 per cent boost in a good day for defence stocks, with shipbuilder Austal up 5.1 per cent.
Local IT plays drifted 0.5 per cent into the red, tracking with a weak Friday lead from the Nasdaq but with mixed company-level performances, with Xero and Technology One carving gains as WiseTech and data centre play NextDC fell behind.
The Australian dollar is buying 66.45 US cents, down from 66.68 US cents on Friday at 5pm.
It's a big week central bank decisions, with interest rate calls incoming from the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, along with US non-farm payrolls data potentially offering some volatility to FX markets.
ON THE ASX:
* The S&P/ASX200 fell 62.3 points, or 0.72 per cent, to 8,635
* The broader All Ordinaries lost 59.5 points, or 0.66 per cent, to 8.923.8
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:
One Australian dollar trades for:
* 66.45 US cents, from 66.68 US cents at 5pm AEDT on Friday
* 103.03 Japanese yen, from 103.84 Japanese yen
* 56.63 euro cents, from 56.80 euro cents
* 49.72 British pence, from 49.77 British pence
* 114.94 NZ cents, from 114.68 NZ cents
