Overnight international markets resumed the new trading week where they left off last week, uncertain and mainly weaker.

The uncertainty followed words from ECB President Mario Draghi who made cautious comments on the state of Europe’s economy.

The FTSE 100 shed 22 points (-0.4%) to settle at 5365, whilst the CAC added two points and the DAX shed 31 (-0.5%).

Stateside, US stocks retreated but on light volumes, with the Dow Jones letting go of 100 points (-0.8%) to settle at 11766, whilst the S&P 500 (-1.3%) and Nasdaq (-1.3%) endured heavier falls.

Our dollar lost ground against the greenback overnight, slipping below the US$0.99 handle into a low of $0.9880.

Oil rose 0.4% to US$93.88 a barrel as protests in Kazakhstan raised fears of supply disruption.

Base metals were weaker on the LME as traders focused on the concerns for global growth; zinc (-1.6%) and aluminium (-2.1%) were the worst in show.

Gold was flat at US$1,594.40 an ounce.

In company news, Macmahon Holdings (MAH) has upgraded its FY12 profit guidance to more than $55 million, from the previous $45 million.

Today's session will bring us data in the form of the latest RBA monetary policy meeting minutes, due out at 11:30am, AEDT.

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Morning Market Analysis: The Rot Continues is a post from: Australian Stock Report Market Pulse Blog