The Australian sharemarket mirrored the U.S markets today after finishing relatively unchanged for the first day of the week. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) closed down by 0.4pct or 17.6pts to 4855.3.

The price of oil is continuing to rise and currently buys almost $US87/b, which is an approximate 8.5pct rise over the past month and a half. Our largest oil and gas producers performed well with Woodside Petroleum (WPL) gaining 0.24pct or 11cents to $45.86 whilst the smaller Santos (STO) rose 1.68pct or 22cents to $13.30. Oil refiner, Caltex Australia (CTX) rose 6.03pct or 76cents to $13.37, hitting its highest level in over a year and also receiving a few broker upgrades.

Most other sectors finished in the red with Westpac (WBC), dragging down the financial sector after going ex-dividend today and is expected to pay out a 74 cents a share dividend on 20 Dec 2010. WBC's Chief Executive, Gail Kelly has also said she will appear before a Senate Inquiry into the level of competition within the banking sector. The other majors finished mixed but relatively unchanged.

Our largest miners were indecisive in terms of share price movement with BHP Billiton (BHP) falling 0.24pct or 11cents to $45.16 and its competitor RIO Tinto (RIO) rising by 0.23pct or 20cents to $87.40. Australia's third largest iron ore producer, Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) pulled back slightly by 0.44pct or 3cents to $6.79. This comes off the back of the stellar week the miners enjoyed after the S&P/ASX 200 Materials index rose 6.5pct over the last 5 sessions thanks to a sharp rise in commodity prices.

Australia's largest airline, Qantas Airways (QAN) is still uncovering issues with its A380 fleet and is still investigated the planes' engines. QAN shares fell 2.1pct or 6cents to $2.80.

On the economic front today, job advertisement numbers were released and showed that the job market is continuing to remain strong. Commsec Economist, Savanth Sebastian said that "While the economy appears to be struggling for momentum, one of the key leading indicators - job advertisements - is still pointing higher, albeit at a more sedate growth pace. According to the Advantage job index, jobs ads have now risen for an unprecedented 14 consecutive weeks. The ANZ job ads series has highlighted that job ads are holding at the best levels in 21 months, however the growth in job advertisements held at the weakest levels in six months."

Petrol prices are still remaining robust with the price of oil rising just as strongly as the Australian dollar against the U.S. Mr Sebastian commented by saying that "A lot of people of have been recently asking the question why has petrol prices not fallen given the recent rally in the Australian dollar? And it is the simple fact that the global oil price has been matching and in fact outpacing the gains in the Aussie dollar. The Nymex crude oil price reached fresh two year highs overnight, while the Singapore unleaded price is now holding at a just over six-month high in US dollar terms."

The Australian dollar is trading around 28 year highs and currently buys US$1.013.

Volume of shares traded came in at 2.85 billion shares worth $5.4 billion. 589 shares were up, 563 finished weaker and 381 ended unchanged.

At 4.30pm AEST on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the Share Price Index futures contract (SPI) is down 0.1pct or 5pts to 4806.

Dow Jones futures are currently pointing to slightly weaker start when the U.S markets open at 12.30am (AEDT)

In the U.S, no economic data is expected to be released tonight.