The market failed to steer away from a mostly flat week as investors took their cues from mixed economic data from overseas, while marginal gains on Wall Street overnight did little to lift the cautious tone.

While the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 opened higher at 4347.3 points, things quickly took a sharp turn with the index dropping to an intraday low of 4302.6 points just before 10am AEST.

At the close, the index retreated 0.9% to 4315.7 points and the All Ordinaries also lost 0.9% to 4340.2 points.

Not helping the situation was the release of building approval data for July from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Building approvals dropped 17.3% in July, representing a 10.6% drop in the rate of approvals compared to the same time last year.

In slightly more positive news, the ABS also said total new capital expenditure rose 3.6% in the June quarter to $A41.74 billion while the seasonally adjusted estimate rose 3.4%.

It was a tough day for the miners, with the basic materials sector falling 3% as iron ore producers Fortescue Metals Group and BHP Billiton were hit by the drop in iron ore prices overnight.

Fortescue closed the day 1.6% lower to $3.59, edging closer towards its last lowest share price since May 2010 of $3.44.

BHP fell 2.4% to $31.99 while Rio dropped 3.8% to take the company’s share price below $50 at $48.63.

Other iron ore miners impacted by the continuing slump in the steel making commodity included Atlas Iron, shedding 5.5% to $1.38.

On the junior front, shares in Firestone Energy soared 37.5% to 1.1c, earning the company a speeding ticket from the ASX.

The company then entered into a trading halt relating to an announcement regarding the financial restructuring of the company.

Other companies going into a halt today included KBL Mining and Laconia Resources.