SYDNEY, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Australian share market has finished lower on Tuesday, held back by losses in the materials and energy sector.
At the close of trade, the benchmark S&P/ASX index was down 12.80 points or 0.21 percent at 6,197.60, while the broader All Ordinaries index lost 16.60 points or 0.26 percent at 6,292.10.
"Trade tensions between the U.S., China and the European Union sparked last night's weakness, with global markets down as much as 2.5 percent," Commonwealth Bank market analyst Steven Daghlian said.
"Investors were in defensive mode this morning which is why property stocks and utilities are performing well."
In the financial space, Australia's big banks were higher overall with the Commonwealth Bank up (0.90 percent), Westpac Bank down (0.34 percent), National Australia Bank up (0.44 percent) and ANZ up (0.35 percent).
Mining stocks mostly slumped with BHP down (1.03 percent), Rio Tinto down (1.83 percent), Fortescue Metals down (1.73 percent) and Newcrest Mining unchanged (0.00 percent).
The country's oil and gas producers dived with Woodside Petroleum down (0.95 percent), Santos down (0.83 percent) and Oil Search down (0.12 percent).
Australia's largest supermarket chains lifted with Wesfarmers up (1.45 percent) and Woolworths up (0.63 percent).
While telecommunications giant Telstra finished unchanged (0.00 percent), the national carrier Qantas crashed (2.27 percent) and biomedical firm CSL slipped (0.68 percent).
