ASX snaps winning streak with 0.2pct dip

The decline followed overnight losses on Wall Street, where the S&P500 dipped 0.7 per cent following news that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) last month saw little evidence that inflation in the US was subsiding and further interest rate hikes were necessary.

The ASX200 dropped as much as 0.6 per cent in the first half hour of trade before recovering steadily, albeit not totally.

"Job numbers were the big potential swing factor during the session," Julia Lee, Australian equity analyst with State Street Global Advisors, told AAP.

The Australian labour market figures for July were mixed, with 41,000 jobs lost but the unemployment rate falling to 3.4 per cent amid a fall in participation.

"Investors are treading water until the inflation picture and interest rate picture becomes clearer," Ms Lee wrote in an email, noting it's been the best start to a new financial year for the ASX since 2013. 

"The big question is whether the upward move in markets can continue given overbought levels and deteriorating fundamentals?"

Sectors were mixed on Thursday, with energy and healthcare up by more than one per cent, consumer staples gaining more modestly, and the ASX's eight other official sectors losing ground.

Tech stocks were the biggest laggard, dragged down 2.4 per cent in part by cloud accounting company Xero. 

The Kiwi company fell 7.1 per cent to $90.65 as board chairman David Thodey told its annual general meeting net subscriber growth in the United Kingdom had been "more subdued than we would like".

But coalminers had another stellar day, with Whitehaven up 2.2 per cent to an all-time closing high of $6.93 and New Hope adding 3.7 per cent to a 10-year closing high of $4.74.

Transurban fell 3.4 per cent to $14.16 after the toll road operator predicted a 2022/23 distribution to shareholders that was below consensus expectations.

"I can understand why people are disappointed," chief executive Scott Charlton told analysts. 

"But you can also understand why the company might be looking at it potentially on the conservative side, given that we're coming out of the COVID period."

Pro Medicus was up 0.6 per cent to $54.10 after the health imaging company reported a full-year net profit of $44.4 million, 44.1 per cent up from a year ago.

Chief executive Dr Sam Hupert said FY22 was "another year where all our key financial metrics headed in the right direction". 

Blackmores fell 10.1 per cent to $73.19 as the supplement manufacturer announced full-year net profit after tax climbed 7.0 per cent to $30.6 million.

Origin Energy dropped 2.6 per cent to $5.91 after the gas and electric company reported a statutory loss of $1.4 billion for the year ended June 30, after writing off $2.2 billion associated with the hedging of high wholesale prices. It also failed to provide profit guidance for the year ahead.

The big banks were mixed, with Commonwealth up 1.4 per cent to $100.99 and NAB up 0.3 per cent to $31.42, while ANZ dropped 1.2 per cent to $23.58 and Westpac fell 0.8 per cent to $22.34.

In the heavyweight mining sector, BHP gained 0.7 per cent to $41.15 and Rio added 0.4 per cent to $97.10, but Fortescue dropped 0.8 per cent to $19.08. 

Qantas was down 1.0 per cent to $4.77 after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission raised concerns about its proposed takeover of Alliance Aviation and its impact on fly-in, fly-out services in Queensland and WA.

Alliance shares fell 3.1 per cent to $3.44.

The Australian dollar meanwhile was buying 69.10 US cents, from 69.81 US cents at Wednesday's close.

ON THE ASX:

* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Thursday finished down 14.9 points, or 0.21 per cent, at 7112.8.

* The broader All Ordinaries dropped 23.4 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 7357.7.

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:

One Australian dollar buys:

* 69.19. US cents, from 69.81 US cents at Wednesday's close

* 93.62 Japanese yen, from 94.10 yen

* 68.11 Euro cents, from 68.74 cents

* 57.56 British pence, from 57.75 pence

* 110.61 NZ cents, from 110.45 cents.