At noon AEDT on Thursday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 7 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 7,171.4, while the broader All Ordinaries had fallen 5 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 7,381.7.
The local bourse followed a negative lead from Wall Street, where the Nasdaq fell 0.6 per cent, the S&P500 dropped 0.4 per cent and the Dow Jones slid 0.2 per cent overnight.
Sluggish oil prices weighed on US equities, St George senior economist Pat Bustamente said, with the West Texas Intermediate futures price dipping below $US70 for the first time since June.
"Soft demand as the global economy continues to slow are behind the recent slide, which has occurred despite shrinking US inventories," he said.
Domestic energy stocks plunged two per cent, led by falls in Santos (2.1 per cent) and Woodside (2.4 per cent).
Boss Energy slumped 6.1 per cent after completing a $205 million share placement to fund its purchase of the Alta Mesa uranium mine in Texas.
Invictus bucked the trend after announcing a gas discovery at its 80 per cent owned and operated Cabora Bassa Project in Zimbabwe.
Shares in the oil and gas exploration company surged 39 per cent.
The remaining 10 ASX sectors were mixed. Materials, industrials, IT, telcos and utilities were up while the others were down.
Heavyweight miner BHP firmed 0.3 per cent after announcing its leadership team will be playing a round of musical chairs.Â
From March 1, 2024, chief commercial officer Vandita Pant will become chief financial officer.
Her position will be filled by Americas president Rag Udd, who will be succeeded by Western Ausralian Iron Ore asset president Brandon Craig.
Chief development officer Johan van Jaarsveld will become chief technical officer, with his successor to be announced in due course.
Fellow iron ore miners Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals climbed 1.5 and 1.6 per cent respectively.
The big banks were mixed, with CBA flat, Westpac up 0.3 per cent and NAB and ANZ down 0.4 and 0.5 per cent respectively.
Financial services company Perpetual soared 7.7 per cent to $25.59 after rejecting a takeover bid from its largest shareholder Washington H. Soul Pattinson late on Wednesday.
The unsolicited offer came hours after the struggling fund manager announced a strategic review to examine breaking up its asset management, wealth and corporate trust businesses.
Perpetual's share price had slumped by more than 9 per cent since the start of the year before its recent resurgence.
Seven West Media fell two per cent to 24.5c after chief executive James Warburton unexpectedly stated his intention to resign, with his role to be filled by chief financial officer Jeff Howard.
"It has been an incredible journey at SWM and with an exceptionally talented team in place, the time is right for the company to take the next step," Mr Warburton, who has been in the top job since mid-2019, said in an announcement to the ASX.
The Australian dollar was buying 65.55 US cents, from 65.81 US cents at Wednesday's ASX close.
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