The Australian bourse remained in the negative territory at Tuesday noon after receiving mixed leads from offshore trading overnight.

At midday AEST, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index edged down 4.3 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 4671.1, while the broader All Ordinaries index had eased 4.8 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 4717.4.

Among the sectors, financials were up 0.3 per cent, but materials slipped 0.5 per cent and gold stocks fell 1.5 per cent.

Irish and Portuguese debt concerns led the US markets to a lower close overnight which will impact on local trading, according to IG Markets analyst Ben Potter.

Austock Securities private client adviser Michael Heffernan said the market had clawed back some ground by noon after a tentative start to the session that saw the S&P/ASX200 index slip by almost 10 points in early trade.

He said gold stocks had taken a breather from recent strong runs after the price of the precious metal pulled back from a record $US1300 per ounce overnight.

Shares in Newcrest were down 49 cents, or 1.2 per cent, at $39.21.

Major mining stocks also were weaker, with BHP Billiton declining 0.42 per cent to $39.49, rival Rio Tinto falling 0.33 per cent to $76.89.

OZ Minerals had given up 4.5 cents, or 3.1 per cent, to $1.40 after more than 11 million shares changed hands. OZ Minerals was the worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX100 index

Junior miner Fortescue Metals Group bucked the trend, rising 0.97 per cent to $5.18.

The big four banks were mostly positive, as ANZ Banking Group lifted 0.57 per cent to $24.34, Commonwealth Bank of Australia softened 0.17 per cent to $52.77 and Westpac Banking Corp found 0.33 per cent to $24.03. National Australia Bank added 0.73 per cent to $26.19.

Investment bank Macquarie Group grew 0.16 per cent to $37.53.