The sharemarket fell for a second consecutive day, with goldminers leading declines in cyclical sectors as the gold price rout continued in the wake of Monday's disappointing economic data from China, which added to recent concern about the global economy.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.3 per cent at 4950.8 points after hitting a five-day low of 4914 in early trading. Share-trading volume rose to $4.6 billion, from $4.2bn on Monday.

However, the market was well supported on dips.

"The resilience today was impressive," said CMC Markets chief market strategist Michael McCarthy.

"There were concerns initially that the Boston bombings might unfold into multiple attacks over the US, but that didn't occur.

"So while investors were understandably cautious, it looks like the selling in equity markets was overdone."

Bargain hunting was evident in resources stocks that were dragged down by the fall in gold. BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto closed down 0.5 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively after they both fell 3 per cent in early trading. Fortescue Metals finished down 0.3 per cent, after falling 4.3 per cent in early trading. Newcrest Mining ended down 5.1 per cent, recovering from an earlier fall of 8.7 per cent.