The sharemarket has closed slightly weaker as investors sold off defensive and high-yielding financial stocks after a couple of days of gains.
At the close today, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 8.8 points, or 0.18 per cent, at 4968 points.
The broader All Ordinaries index was down 6.5 points, or 0.13 per cent, at 4973.7 points.
CommSec market analyst Steve Daghlian described today's falls as modest.
"Thanks to yesterday's big gain we are still up 1.5 per cent for the week," he said.
The Australian market has not posted gains for a week or finished up two days in a row for five weeks.
Mr Daghlian said he thought reasonably solid trade figures showing strong import demand in China may have prevented stronger losses.
However that was balanced by a new report showing a surprising drop in consumer confidence this month.
