The Australian market edged lower today, after another night of mixed leads from international markets.

A majority of the sectors closed in positive territory but the market's two largest sectors – materials and financials – both finished in the red.

The major banks weighed; ANZ and NAB were the worst, both dropping 0.9%.

The big miners were mixed, as were commodity prices. BHP lost 0.2%, whilst rival Rio Tinto put on 0.5%.

Boral dropped 2.7% after releasing its 1H FY12 results and providing poor guidance for the remainder of the final year.

Goodman Fielder surged 33% after announcing that UBS was seeking to acquire 10% of its shares for Asian agribusiness group Willmar International, fuelling takeover speculation.

The ASX 200 shed five points (-0.1%), to close at 4263.

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Evening Market Analysis: Flat Day Flat Close is a post from: Australian Stock Report Market Pulse Blog