The market see-sawed higher in early trade, but fell as the open of Chinese share trading loomed, and followed the negative lead for the remainder of the session.

At close of trade on Monday the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.7 per cent at the day's low of 5166.5. The broader All Ordinaries fell 0.6 per cent to 5218.2.

Wall Street provided little direction for investors, ending flat as many Americans took a long weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday. But the Chinese sharemarket's 5.5 per cent Friday plunge had investors biting their nails instead, after some of the nation's biggest brokerages said they were under regulatory investigation.

"A weaker [yuan] midpoint fixing and a renewed selloff in Mainland Chinese markets have heightened fears that Friday's selloff could merely be the beginning of a more significant correction," IG market analyst Angus Nicholson said.

The Shanghai Composite Index extended its losses on Monday, to be down 2.5 per cent in late afternoon trade, and the ASX followed, led down by the banks and miners.

Mining stocks weaken

BHP Billiton fell 3.6 per cent to $18.09 on weekend news that Brazil would seek $7 billion from BHP and its joint venture partner Vale following the failure of the tailings dam at its Samarco iron ore mine.

Rival Rio Tinto fell 0.7 per cent to $45.91, while Fortescue Metals Group fell 4.9 per cent to $1.96.

Among the banks, Westpac ended positive, up 0.1 per cent to $32.15, but Commonwealth Bank of Australia fell 0.9 per cent to $79.43, ANZ Banking Group shed 0.7 per cent to $27.15 and National Australia Bank fell 1 per cent to $29.39.

In the other blue chips, Wesfarmers fell 0.6 per cent to $38.09, Woolworths fell 0.4 per cent to $23.67, and Telstra fell 0.7 per cent to $5.36.

Blood products maker CSL was the best performing blue chip, closing above the $100-mark for the first time, up 0.5 per cent for the day to $100.11.

Katana Asset Management portfolio manager Romano Sala Tenna said the bad news for already beleaguered companies such as BHP Billiton was that investors were trading with the share price momentum.

"It's not a market for contrarian or value investors, it's a market for momentum buyers... the share prices are almost becoming self fulfilling" he said.

Despite the market moving lower, at the company level there were some big share price movements on company news. 

Dick Smith plummets 

Dick Smith was the day's worst performing stock. Its shares plunged a staggering 58 per cent to 28¢ after the company abandoned its October profit guidance, warning profits could fall by up to 15 per cent this year.

Metcash shares, however, got a boost of 12 per cent to $1.48 as underlying profits slumping 6.1 per cent to $86.9 million, exceeding consensus forecasts, while bottom line net profit rose 20 per cent.

"We think the move today is a little bit premature, there may be a little bit of short covering as it is the most shorted stock on the ASX," Mr Sala Tenna said.

Slater & Gordon was the best performing stock of the day, climbing 34 per cent to 92.5¢ after it reaffirmed its 2016 guidance for the second time. The rise recouped some of the two-day, 69 per cent plunge last week on fears of the impact of UK regulatory changes to the law firm's business.

Across the sectors, healthcare and information technology were the only two to post a gain, with the healthcare index up 0.5 per cent. The materials sector fared the worst, down 2.4 per cent, followed by industrials, down 0.9 per cent.