BLUE-CHIP stocks moved lower yesterday in line with the bond market where traders were selling ahead of this week's release of several US economic figures including the jobless rate.

The Dow Jones index of 30 leading industrials shed 38.47 points (0.7 per cent) to 5,434.59.

On the broader New York Stock Exchange some 281 million shares changed hands in quiet trading.

Declining shares out paced advancers 1,444 to 893 with 798 unchanged.

On the bond market the interest rate on the benchmark 30 year Treasury bond climbed to 7.09 per cent from 7.01 per cent late on Friday.

The interest rates, which move inversely to bond prices, headed higher as traders got the jitters ahead of the release of US economic data.

The market is keeping an eye out for the consumer confidence index today and the first estimate of the second quarter gross domestic product and inflation figures for July, out on Friday.