The Australian sharemarket finished relatively flat as gains from Woolworths and the banks offset weak performances from the energy and mining sectors.
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The benchmark S&P/ASX200 added just 4.7 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 5400.9, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 1.1 points to 5381.4.
Among the sectors, energy was the biggest drag on the market, falling 2.8 per cent. Health was the biggest winner, adding 1.9 per cent.
Brent crude slumped 1.5 per cent to $US76.62 a barrel ahead of Thursday night's meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), as traders bet the cartel would not cut production to boost the sagging oil price.
"People are waiting for the OPEC meeting tonight to see whether they do make some sort of announcement on production cuts or not. Although the Saudi Oil Minister last night seemed to indicate that that was not going to be the case," Patersons Securities strategist Tony Farnham said.
Among energy shares, Santos dropped 3.1 per cent to $11.61, Origin Energy fell 3.2 per cent to $13.17 and Oil Search lost 2.6 per cent to $8.47.
The domestic market was looking less appealing to international investors because earnings growth and valuations were less favourable in Australia than places like Europe, Japan, China and the United States, Perpetual head of equities Matt Sherwood said.
"People are cottoning on to the notion that China's growth is structurally slowing," Mr Sherwood said.
"Chinese authorities are trying to focus more now on the consumer space, which, of course, Australia is less favourably exposed there."
However, there are some signs of hope. Capital expenditure figures surprised on the upside on Thursday, with capex rising 0.2 per cent over September, beating expectations of a 0.2 per cent decline. Over the year, capex has declined 5.9 per cent as mining investment winds back. However, the positive outcome in the quarter for non-mining parts of the economy was noted, with the Australian dollar jumping 0.5 per cent to US85.91¢.
The price of iron ore slumped a further 1.6 per cent to $US68.49 per tonne, as concerns about a slowdown in China continued to bubble.
Iron ore producers struggled on the local index on Thursday as a result. Rio Tinto slipped 0.6 per cent to $58.02, BC Iron shed 4.6 per cent to 56¢ and Atlas Iron lost 2.6 per cent to 19¢. Fortescue Metals was the exception, rising 2.5 per cent to $2.86.
BHP Billiton copped a double punch with oil prices coming off as well, falling 1.6 per cent to $32.
Woolworths shares gained 2.2 per cent to $31.25, after the supermarket giant alleviated concerns that it might not hit profit targets for the current financial year because of poor performance from hardware chain Masters. Chief executive Grant O'Brien reiterated the retailer's forecast of net profit growth between 4 per cent and 7 per cent.
Banks of Queensland shares rose 1.5 per cent to $12.42 after acting chief executive Jon Sutton told investors at the bank's annual meeting home loan approvals had jumped 20 per cent between September and October, thanks to brokers and an advertising campaign.
Among financials, Commonwealth Bank lifted 0.6 per cent to $81.50, while Westpac rose 0.5 per cent to $33.23. National Australia Bank jumped 1.5 per cent to $32.93 and ANZ inched 0.2 per cent higher to $32.45.
Vocation shares plunged 15.1 per cent to 53.5¢ following the resignation of former federal education minister John Dawkins as chairman because of the business's sharp stock plunge over the past few weeks.
Credit Suisse downgraded Telstra shares to "underperform", citing competitive pressure from Optus and Vodafone in the mobiles space, suggesting Telstra's long winning run in terms of market share growth was coming to an end. Despite this, Telstra shares rose 1.2 per cent to $5.74.
