The Australian sharemarket's four-day relief rally has drawn to an abrupt conclusion with the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) slamming on the brakes.
Following on from a weak lead set on Wall Street overnight, which saw the Dow Jones and NASDAQ indices decline 1% and 1.1% respectively, Australia's benchmark index has also fallen 0.7% after having slid by as much as 1% earlier in the session.
Australia's mining and resources stocks are amongst the biggest fallers today, despite a further lift in the iron ore price overnight. According to the Metal Bulletin, the commodity rose 2.6% to trade at US$62.78 a tonne, but analysts at Citigroup cut their long-term forecasts which may have been enough to hurt the market's confidence.
Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) was amongst the casualties, falling 1.3% after yesterday's 10.6% lift, while BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) fell 2% and 1.6% respectively.
BHP's shares were also impacted by a heavy fall in oil prices overnight on reports that Iraq could be about to flood the market with more barrels of the resource next month, potentially exacerbating the supply and demand imbalance.
While oil is BHP's second most important commodity, Santos Ltd (ASX: STO), Senex Energy Ltd (ASX: SXY) and Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (ASX: LNG) were also heavily impacted, falling 1.7%, 2.6% and 7.2% respectively.
Although the resources sector acted as the primary drag on the market's performance, the nation's largest banks also failed to provide any spark. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) remained flat and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) and National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) tumbled 0.8%, 0.7% and 1% respectively.
The market has failed to fire for investors today, but there are plenty of reasons to suggest now could be the perfect time to buy. To begin with, the ASX-200 remains well below its recent high levels, while interest rates are also set to remain low for some time, making Australia's best dividend stocks all the more appealing.
