By a staff reporter
The Australian sharemarket was flat at noon, with gains in the financial sector being cancelled out with poor performances by resource stocks.
At 1205 AEDT, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 0.16 per cent at 4,733.5 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index had sank 0.15 per cent to 4,820 points.
IG Markets analyst Ben potter said it was likely to be a fairly sombre session to end what should be another positive week.
"There is little in the way of economic news so traders will instead be focusing on Asian trade and any news as to the progress of tax cuts in the US," Mr Potter said.
Resource stocks opened weaker, amid reports West Australian premier Colin Barnett is not cooperating with the federal government as it seeks to reach agreement with BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto over key elements of the planned federal mining tax.
BHP fell 0.35 per cent to $45.28, and Rio slipped 0.49 per cent to $87.34.
BHP has raised its wage offer for striking workers at the Hillside aluminium smelter in South Africa to 8.5 per cent, a National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) spokesman said.
Elsewhere, Fortescue Metals Group eased 0.45 per cent to $6.54, while gold miner Newcrest dropped 0.22 per cent to $40.59.
Among oil stocks, Woodside Petroleum improved 0.09 per cent to $42.99 while Santos inched up 0.08 per cent to $12.46
Oil Search gained 0.85 per cent to $7.06.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has given the all clear for the country's largest energy companies, Origin Energy and AGL Energy, to bid for some of the electricity assets being sold in the NSW electricity privatisation.
Origin gained 0.73 per cent to $16.53, while AGL slipped 0.55 per cent to $15.99.
Financial stocks began the day stronger, with all four of the big banks in the black.
ANZ Banking Group lifted 0.5 per cent to $23.77, Commonwealth Bank jumped 0.31 per cent to $50.40, National Australia Bank lifted 0.58 per cent to $24.14 and Westpac gained 0.49 per cent to $22.40.
Macquarie Group climbed one per cent to $37.01.
Among the retailers, Woolworths improved 0.11 per cent to $26.17, while Coles-owner Wesfarmers edged up 0.18 per cent to $32.06.
Harvey Norman opened flat at $2.96, and JB Hi-Fi fell 0.1 per cent to $18.36.
David Jones slipped 0.46 per cent to $4.30, while rival Myer sank 0.85 per cent to $3.47.
Qantas was flat at $2.70 and Telstra Corp fell 0.36 per cent to $2.75.
The government has scaled-back its plan to connect every newly built home to the national broadband network (NBN), saying the government needs more time to phase-in the strategy, according to reports.
ASX inched up 0.18 per cent to $38.05 after Singapore Exchange chief Magnus Böcker rejected the suggestion a tie-up with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is a "merger of losers", describing his $8.4 billion takeover offer as a "revenue play" and promising that computers will stay in Sydney should it succeed.
On Thursday, the Australian share market closed higher as the banks and the miners underpinned the local bourse.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 41.4 points, or 0.88 per cent, at 4,741.3 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index rose 35.8 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 4,827.5 points.
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