The Australian sharemarket ended below water today, following a weak session on international markets overnight.

Most sectors were in the red today, with the consumer staples being the major outperformer after its sales result came in line with consensus.

Ratings agency Fitch placed all four major banks on ratings watch negative last night.

However the big four were more or less unfazed by the potential downgrade. Westpac managed to put on 0.2%, while NAB lost 0.3%.

Mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto were mixed; Rio Tinto gained 0.2% whilst rival BHP let go of 0.5%.

The big news on the company reporting front was Woolworths' (+1.4%) 2Q sales growing 5.1% on-year. The retail giant also announced it would be selling its Dick Smith business.

The somewhat positive result from Woolworths improved sentiment towards the retailers. JB Hi-Fi soared 6.6% while David Jones surged 5.7%.

The ASX 200 let go of 10 points (-0.2%), settling at 4263.

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Evening Markets Analysis: Afternoon Fade is a post from: Australian Stock Report Market Pulse Blog