At 10:30 (AEST), the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 13.20 points or 0.19 percent at 6,982.00, while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 17.00 points or 0.23 percent at 7,235.30.
U.S. share markets hit fresh record highs on Friday as investors shrugged off concerns about inflation ahead of the first-quarter earnings season this week.
The Dow Jones index closed up by 0.90 percent and the S&P 500 index gained 0.80 percent - both closing at record highs. And the Nasdaq rose by 0.50 percent. Over the week, the Dow Jones index lifted 2.00 percent, while the S&P 500 index gained 2.70 percent - its third-straight weekly gain. And the Nasdaq index rallied 3.10 percent.
In the financial space, the big banks varied with Commonwealth Bank up (0.01 percent), National Australia Bank up (0.34 percent), Westpac Bank was unchanged (0.00 percent) and ANZ was unchanged (0.00 percent).
Mining stocks were mixed with BHP down (0.90 percent), Rio Tinto was unchanged (0.00 percent), Fortescue Metals down (1.05 percent), and goldminer Newcrest was unchanged (0.00 percent).
The country's oil and gas producers were mixed with Oil Search down (0.73 percent), Santos unchanged (0.00 percent) and Woodside Petroleum unchanged (0.00 percent).
Australia's largest supermarkets were mixed with Coles down (0.60 percent), and Woolworths was unchanged (0.00 percent).
Meanwhile, telecommunications giant Telstra was up (0.15 percent), the national carrier Qantas was down (0.73 percent) and biomedical firm CSL was up (0.80 percent).
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