Australian stock market managed to close flat on Tuesday as banking stocks continued to defy the downward pressure exerted by the profit takers. The Australian Stock Exchange benchmark index S&P/ASX200 ended just 0.8 points or 0.02 per cent up at 4,718.

However, the broader All Ordinaries index closed on the other side with a decline of 1.7 points or 0.04 per cent over the previous close. It finished the day at 4,731.

Banking heavyweights continued to advance on Tuesday after rallying nearly 2.5 per cent each yesterday. While Westpac rose 0.92 per cent to $26.36, Commonwealth Bank climbed 42 cents or 0.78 per cent and ANZ moved
0.84 per cent up for its 19 cents growth.

National Australia Bank remained the only weakling among the big four banks. It traded at eight cents or 0.32 per cent down at closing.

Market bigwigs, excluding the banks, witnessed a bad day at the bourses as most of them including wealth manager and insurer AMP, mining heavyweight BHP Billiton, Oil major Woodside Petroleum and gold miner Newmont Mining ended in red.

AMP alone hurt the market substantially after the company's stocks shredded 26 cents or 4.11 per cent to $6.07 per share.