STOCKS - AUSTRALIAN INDEX LOWER TO NOON - JULY 1, 2004.

SYDNEY, July 1 Asia Pulse - The Australian sharemarket took a small step back at noon as local investors farewelled a bumper financial year and greeted the new one with caution.

ABN Amro private client adviser Kylie Harding said there was weakness across the board, particularly in the major banks, although the gold sector was doing something to hold up the bourse.

"June 30 came and went without so much as a whimper and I think that the fact that we have rallied so hard over the last year or so, people are probably thinking that it is time the market came back a little bit," she said.

"So there's probably not much going on in anticipation of that."

At 1201 AEST the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was 2.7 points lower at ...