Australian shares are trading lower this morning, weighed by the financial sector with some modest losses.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index is down 17.2 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 6206.4.

Westpac is down 1 per cent, Commonwealth Bank has slid 0.7 per cent and ANZ is down 0.9 per cent.

Sims Metal Management shares are down 3.8 per cent, Syrah Resources has slid 3.2 per cent and Bank of Queensland is down 2.9 per cent.

BREAKING

Insurance Australia Group has confirmed it has had proceeding filed against them. Here's what they've announced this morning:

Insurance Australia Group Limited (IAG) confirms that it has been made aware of a representative proceeding filed by Johnson Winter & Slattery in the Federal Court of Australia against it and its subsidiary, Swann Insurance (Aust) Pty Ltd, on behalf of Jones Asirifi-Otchere. IAG will update the market as it receives more information and as appropriate.

SPONSORED POST

Investors slowly wade back in to the market after a raft of economic data, but the advance has been less than convincing, writes Kyle Rodda.

The litany of economic data provided market participants the green-light they were looking for; but so far, the price-reaction, while bullish, has been subdued. Relative to the past 100-days, volume on Wall Street, and a majority of developed markets, has been thin overnight. It's giving the impression of a stock-market bereft of conviction, as nervousness sets in as the S&P500 edges towards new record highs.

Admittedly, much of this phenomenon could be attributed to the upcoming US reporting season: while risk-taking is being encouraged by policy-makers, a true validation in corporate fundamentals needs to accompany the oft-touted accommodative global monetary policy settings.

Read the full 8@eight here.

Here are the overnight market highlights:

SPI futures down 11 points or 0.2 per cent, to 6197 at 7am AEST.
AUD up slightly to 71.7 US cents
On Wall St: Dow +0.03%, S&P 500 +0.4%, Nasdaq +0.7%
In Europe: Stoxx 50 +0.2%, FTSE -0.05%, CAC +0.3%, DAX +0.5%
Spot gold +0.3% to $US1308.18 an ounce at 2:15pm in New York
Brent crude +1.6% to $US71.76 a barrel
US oil +0.9% to $US64.53
Iron ore -0.3% at $US94.61 a tonne
LME aluminium +0.4% to $US1878 a tonne
LME copper +0.2% to $US6487 per tonne
2-year yield: US 2.32%, Australia 1.48%
5-year yield: US 2.28%, Australia 1.5%
10-year yield: US 2.48%, Australia 1.87%, Germany -0.03%

Federal Reserve policy makers last month grappled with "significant uncertainties" and persistently low inflation as they scrapped forecasts for interest-rate hikes in 2019 even while voicing the need to maintain policy flexibility.

"Several participants noted that their views of the appropriate target range for the federal funds rate could shift in either direction based on incoming data and other developments," according to minutes of the March 19-20 Fed meeting, released Thursday 4am AEST.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq inched higher overnight, as investors largely shrugged off benign US inflation data and the unsurprising minutes.

Read the full story here.

Bank of Queensland says there will be no let up in the weak performance of its retail bank in the next half, admitting that its ability to sign up new customers and make decent returns has been hampered.

Following a February profit warning, the regional lender on Thursday confirmed its cash profits fell 8 per cent to $167 million in the first half.

BoQ will pay a fully-franked interim dividend of 34c a share, a 4c cut.

Acting chief executive Anthony Rose said profits for the second half were "unlikely" to be any better.

Good morning and welcome to Markets Live for Thursday.

Your editor today is William McInnes.

We now know when the Federal Election will be held but the outlook for the markets is a little more cloudy, with the US Fed signalling overnight that they will remain patient.

This blog is not intended as investment advice.