The All Ordinaries index finished the session down 29 points or 0.5 per cent lower at 5,833.

The ASX 200 fell 31 points to 5,861.

The Chinese benchmark iron ore price in Tianjin hit a fresh record low of $US51 a tonne overnight.

West Texas crude oil fell to $US47.67 a barrel, though Tapis crude in Singapore rose during the day to $US57.13 a barrel.

Those falls were soon reflected on the market, with Santos closing down 2.9 per cent and Woodside falling 1.9 per cent.

Among mining stocks, BHP Billiton lost 2.2 per cent and Rio Tinto ended the session 1.4 per cent lower.

The finance sector's losses were modest by comparison, with falls of 0.5 per cent for ANZ and Westpac.

NAB dipped 0.3 per cent and the Commonwealth Bank fell 0.1 per cent.

The airlines and telco sector offset some of those losses, with Telstra adding 0.3 per cent while Qantas rose 2.25 per cent and Virgin Australia jumped 6.8 per cent.

Official figures released today show Australia's housing construction boom is continuing.

The bureau of statistics figures show nearly 19,000 dwellings were approved for construction in February, 3.2 per cent short of the record set in the prior month.

Better than expected Chinese manufacturing data was also released, helping the Australian dollar recover somewhat from its fall on the iron ore price dip.

At 4:15pm AEDT, the Australian dollar was buying about 76.3 US cents, 70.8 euro cents, 51.3 British pence, 91.4 Japanese yen and 102.2 New Zealand cents.

Spot gold was higher at $US1187.87 an ounce.