The local share market is on track for its third straight day of losses after the release of hawkish Federal Reserve minutes and as traders digested more earnings reports.
At noon on Thursday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 28.2 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 7,286.3. The broader All Ordinaries was down 26 points, or 0.35 per cent, at 7,490.6.
The losses came after the release of minutes from the US central bank's last meeting, which showed its determination to keep hiking interest rates.
"Higher interest rates for longer remains the key underlying message, in my view, with the Fed looking to keep at it until the job is done in order to avoid repeating the inflation and policy mistakes of the 1970s," wrote Corpay APAC currency strategist Peter Dragicevich.
Energy, mining and consumer staples were all lower while the rest of the market was higher.
BHP was on track for its worst performance since November 3, falling 3.2 per cent to $46.71 and accounting for 23 of the index's 28 points of losses.
Rio was down 2.4 per cent to $122.54 while Fortescue was basically flat at $22.88.
In the heavyweight financial sector, ANZ, Westpac and NAB were all down between 0.4 and 0.7 per cent, while CBA had risen 0.9 per cent.
Medibank was up six per cent to $3.265 after the health insurer announced its half-year net profit after tax had grown 5.9 per cent to $233.3m
"We are a resilient business with great people, a unique offering in health, and a track record of responding to whatever challenge is in front of us," said CEO David Koczkar, mentioning COVID-19, inflation, cost-of-living pressures and the "cybercrime event" that hit the insurer last year.
Qantas was down 7.3 per cent to a six-week low of $6 despite the airline returning to profitability for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic started three years ago.
"When we restructured the business at the start of COVID, it was to make sure we could bounce back quickly when travel returned," CEO Alan Joyce said on Thursday.
Eagers Automotive had added 9.1 per cent to $13.02 after the automotive dealership chain hiked its dividend and declared it had a "very strong foundation" for the new year.
"Demand continues to outstrip supply, supporting a structural change to a new normal in order bank levels across the industry," Eagers said.
Others gaining ground after releasing earnings reports were Auckland Airport (up 3.7 per cent), Qube Holdings (up 8.0 per cent), Ramsay Health Care (up 2.8 per cent), Smartgroup Corporations (8.1 per cent), Kelsian Group (7.0 per cent) and Clearview Wealth (11.5 per cent)
On the flip side, losing ground after releasing earnings were Pexagroup (down 7.8 per cent), Nine Entertainment (down 3.6 per cent), Insignia Financial (down 4.5 per cent), Zip Co (down 5.3 per cent) and Perpetual (down 2.9 per cent).