The sharemarket closed flat ahead of tomorrow's federal budget and after the Aussie fell below parity with the greenback.

At the close today, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 4.2 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 5210.3 points.

The broader All Ordinaries index was up 3.7 points, or 0.07 per cent, at 5194.8.

CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner resource sector weakness was a major feature of the market and that was driven by a stronger US dollar and softer commodity prices.

The Aussie was trading below parity with the greenback today at its lowest level since last June.

The release of Chinese economic data just before the close, showing activity improving from March, did not produce positive enough numbers to move the Australian market higher, Mr Spooner said.

"It was not enough to inject any optimism into the resource sector and fairly consistent with the story in recent months of moderating growth rates in China," he said.