"We had a pretty strong lead from global markets overnight and it does seem like we have failed to pick up on that lead." said Stan Shamu, market strategist IG Markets. "There has been a downtrend resistance line in place since about April we have seen a strong rejection of that line, at the same time we have seen the miners give up some of the gains that they had this morning following the bullish lead from commodities markets overnight," he added. Global miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton , were both were up over 0.8 percent in afternoon trade, having risen around 2 percent in opening trade. BlackRock Inc , the world's largest money manager, said that it saw "massive opportunity" in oversold mining equities, although Australia had dropped down the global mining investment list due to its pending introduction of a mining profits tax and a carbon tax next year. Consumer staples and telecommunication sectors pulled the benchmark index lower as European leaders worked on a strategy to counter the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis. "Tomorrow is the deadline for European leaders to come up with a concrete solution, so you might find investors trying to position themselves ahead of that," said Shamu. In a balanced speech on the economic outlook, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Deputy Governor Ric Battellino said there could be scope for monetary policy to support demand if looming figures on inflation proved benign, though he also noted that recent domestic economic news had been better than expected. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index slipped 0.9 percent or 37.4 points to 4,217.6 at 0347 GMT. The index rallied 2.7 percent on Monday. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index was 0.4 percent higher at 3,292.9. STOCKS ON THE MOVE Australian coal miner New Hope Corp shares fell 1 percent to A$5.97 after media reported India's No.3 steelmaker JSW Steel Ltd is considering a bid for the coal miner, in a deal which is likely to be worth more than $5 billion. ResMed shares fell 12.3 percent to A$2.63 after the company reported Q1 net profit was down 11 percent. Australian contractor WorleyParsons Ltd shares fell 1.7 percent to A$27.96 after announcing it expects to achieve good growth in underlying earnings in 2012, subject to markets for its services remaining strong, and that earnings in the current year will be weighted to the second half. Treasury Wine Estates shares were down 2.6 percent to A$3.80. The world's second-largest wine business, said wine demand is continuing to grow in the United States and Europe, despite the subdued consumer environment.