After what has been a fairly topsy-turvy morning, the Aussie market currently sits just underwater, with the XJO 10 points below par.

The healthcare, financials and consumer staples sectors are the best performers, whilst the energy, materials and IT sectors are the hardest hit.

Gold and silver producers are suffering badly, reeling from the sharp drop in the respective metals on Friday night.

Newcrest is down approximately 6%, whilst Cobar Consolidated is down 9%.

In company news, it has been reported that Rio Tinto is considering spinning off a portion of its aluminium assets in Australia, given that local smelters face a difficult future due to the proposed carbon tax.

Around the region, Asian markets are all trading lower; the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite are off around 0.5% each, whilst the Nikkei is down 1.7%.