The ASX held to a familiar pattern on Wednesday, rising at the open before quickly falling back to trade in the red for the rest of the session as heavyweights QBE and Telstra weighed.

The benchmark slipped 6 points, or 0.1 per cent, to end the day at 5664, remaining at the bottom of its narrow four-month trading range. The index traded in a similar fashion on Monday and Tuesday, where early gains were wiped out by late-session selling.

North Korea worries continue to linger for investors and geopolitics has added to the uncertainty this week following elections in Germany and New Zealand that failed to generate a clear victor.

Investors on Wall Street and beyond also awaited the US Republican Party's framework for overhauling the country's tax code, due Wednesday evening, Australian time.

NAB's head of foreign exchange strategy Ray Attrill said that equity markets may have incorporated some modest expectation of corporate tax reform into their pricing.

Bond and currency traders, however, remained unconvinced on the prospect for tax reform, Mr Attrill said, "suggesting much more upside for yields and the [US] dollar should tax reform hopes take a significant step higher".

The Australian dollar traded at US78.7¢ on Wednesday afternoon, down 0.3 per cent over the session.

Financials and telecom stocks notably lost ground in Australian trading, with Telstra down 1.4 per cent, Commonwealth Bank down 0.3 per cent, ANZ down 0.2 per cent and AMP down 1.2 per cent.

QBE Insurance fell 2.8 per cent and Computershare after both stocks were on the end of broker downgrades.

Miners helped support the benchmark, after iron ore bounced 3 per cent on Tuesday night. On the move were Rio Tinto, up 1.4 per cent, South32, up 2.2 per cent, Fortescue, up 3.4 per cent and BHP, which ended 0.2 per cent higher.

Energy names adding to a strong showing yesterday when the oil price rocketed included Origin, up 0.8 per cent, and Beach Energy, higher by 2.5 per cent.

Myer surged 6.9 per cent even as it traded without rights to its latest dividend payout after Solomon Lew's Premier Investments, which owns a 10.8 per cent stake in the struggling department store, said it has requested a copy of Myer's shareholder register.