The market eased steadily throughout the day to finish 1.4 per cent lower after some awful US home sales figures.

Sales of existing homes in the US plummeted 27 per cent in July, to their lowest level in a decade.

Those renewed concerns about US housing and growth led to a 1.3 per cent fall in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

They also fed into a big fall for Australia’s major banks, which are very exposed to movements in the Australian housing market.

The nation’s largest home lender, the Commonwealth Bank, closed down 2.3 per cent at $48.30, NAB was down 1.8 per cent, ANZ lost 2 per cent, and Westpac eased 1.7 per cent.

But Australia’s fifth biggest bank, and one of the nation’s major insurers, Suncorp was up more than 2.4 per cent to $7.97 after recording a full-year profit of $780 million, more than double last year’s result.

Telstra shares touched a fresh record low at $2.75, only a couple of days after it plunged 19 cents after going ex-dividend on Monday.

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