SYDNEY (AFP) -- Australian share prices closed little changed Tuesday as investors marked time in the absence of an offshore lead after the U.S. and British markets were closed for public holidays, dealers said.

Investors sold major banking and resource stocks but retailers enjoyed a boost thanks to better than expected retail sales data, they said.

The benchmark S and P/ASX 200 slipped 4.1 points to close at 5,105.4 while the broader All Ordinaries Index fell 3.1 points to 5,066.8.

Turnover was 867.5 million shares worth 2.67 billion dollars (2.03 billion US), with falls outnumbering rises 542 to 537 and 358 stocks closing unchanged.

Dealers said with U.S. markets closed Monday for Memorial Day and UK bourses shut for a bank holiday, trading was lackluster.

"With no direction from the U.S. and London and Asian markets being a bit weak there was really not much to go on," Aequs Securities head of institutional trading Ric Klusman said. "It is likely to bore up a bit tomorrow (Wednesday) being the end of the month although at the moment U.S. futures are a bit messy."

Klusman said any official confirmation that China's steel industry has accepted a 19 percent price rise for iron ore should be a positive for BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.

The market heavyweights were lower Tuesday, with BHP Billiton shares falling 0.14 dollars to 29.33 dollars and Rio Tinto losing 1.04 dollars to 81.20 dollars.

The major banks were also down -- National Australia Bank eased 0.01 to 36.22, Commonwealth Bank shed 0.25 to 44.27, ANZ lost 0.05 to 26.90 and Westpac retreated 0.05 to 23.40.

Dealers said the 1.4 percent jump in retail sales data for April helped retailers. Coles Myer shares added 0.11 to 11.48, Woolworths gained 0.03 to 18.98, department store David Jones won 0.07 to 2.82 and Harvey Norman added 0.06 to 3.95.

But national airline Qantas fell on reports the Singapore government will push for a review of Australia's aviation policy as part of free trade agreement talks. Qantas shares dropped 0.03 to 3.22 while budget rival Virgin Blue slipped 0.01 to 1.63.

Leighton Holdings, which is 53 percent owned by Germany's Hochtief AG, advanced after it won the tender to build a 300 million dollar command centre for the Department of Defense near Canberra. Leighton shares gained 0.51 to close at 17.86.

Entertainment group Village Roadshow also rose after announcing it is in talks to sell cinemas in New Zealand, Fiji, the UK and Austria. Village Roadshow shares surged 0.09 or 4.25 percent to close at 2.21.

Dominant telco Telstra slipped 0.03 to 3.73 while rival SingTel eased 0.01 to 2.12.