The ASX fell back, Oil producers were the best performers

The ASX fell back to a level not seen since October last year as investors continued to fret about the fallout from a potential trade war between the US and China.

The S&P/ASX 200 ended the day down 30 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 5790, after dropping below the 5,800 level for the first time in more than five months. The All Ordinaries lost 27 points, or 0.5 per cent, to trade at 5901 while the Australian dollar traded at US77.18¢.

The losses followed a weak performance for Wall Street on Friday, where the Dow lost 1.8 per cent, the S&P 500 fell 2.1 per cent and the Nasdaq lost 2.4 per cent, after the US said late last week that it wanted to impose tariffs on China.

Speaking about the recent sharemarket losses, Romano Sala Tenna, portfolio manager at Katana Asset Management, said "the market was really looking for a reason to sell off."

For the ASX, 5,800 "is a great support level," he said, noting that the market has bounced from around this level quite a few times. The Dow is also near a strong support level, he noted.

He believes that markets managing to hold around these levels signals some stabilisation in sentiment. Investors will now likely start to focus again on fundamentals such as earnings, he said, with US earnings season set to start again in two weeks.

Banks were the worst performers by sector in Australian trading, with CBA down 1.1 per cent $72.02, Westpac down 0.6 per cent at $28.67, ANZ down 0.7 per cent at $27.52 and NAB down 0.7 per cent at $28.78.

Wealth management group AMP fell 2.9 per cent to $5.07 after it told shareholders that CEO Craig Meller will step down at the end of the year.

Gold miners were standouts at the start of the week, with Newcrest gaining 1.6 per cent to $20.17 and Northern Star rising 2.7 per cent to $6.96 after strong gains for the gold price last week.

Oil producers were the best performers by sector, responding to recent strength in the oil price, with Brent futures opening over $70 a barrel for the first time since January on Monday. Santos shares ended the session up 0.8 per cent at $5.12 and Oil Search rose 0.7 per cent to $7.19.