Falls among retail stocks, inspired by David Jones's disappointing sales result, are holding back the broader share market.

The All Ordinaries index was down 1 point to 5,023 shortly before 11:00am (AEDT), and the ASX 200 was 2 points lower at 5,001.

Shares in David Jones fell 2.2 per cent after the company reported a fall in its second quarter sales.

Its main rival, Myer was also down 1.5 per cent.

The major supermarket and discount department store groups, Woolworths and Wesfarmers, were also a little lower.

Shares in the engineering services firm, Downer EDI surged more than 12 per cent, after it reported a rise in its half-year profit.

Rio Tinto was up 1.5 per cent ahead of its half-year results, which will be released late this afternoon after the market closes.

BHP Billiton was just around 0.8 per cent higher.

Amongst the banks, NAB was down 1 per cent, ANZ and Commonwealth Bank shares were 0.5 per cent lower, while Westpac was up 0.2 per cent.

The Australian dollar was buying 103.51 US cents.