At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell 41.05 points, or 0.67%, to 6,091.00. The broader All Ordinaries was down 33.13 points, or 0.53%, to 6,223.86.
The country's top power producer, AGL Energy, and telecom giant Telstra Corp forecasted sharp drops in their earnings for fiscal 2021, sending their shares down 9.6% and 8.3%, respectively.
Meanwhile, scandal-hit AMP Ltd ended over 10% higher after it said it would return about A$400 million to investors in the form of a special dividend and a share buyback.
ECONOMIC NEWS: Australia Unemployment Rate Advances To 7.5% In July Australia unemployment rate was a seasonally adjusted 7.5% in July, up from 7.4% in June, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. The Australian economy added 114,700 jobs last month to 12,460,800, following the addition of 210,800 jobs in the previous month. Full-time employment increased 43,500 to 8,547,100 people and part-time employment increased 71,200 to 3,913,600 people. The participation rate came in at 64.7%, beating forecasts for 64.4% and up from 64.0% a month earlier.
CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar changed hands at 0.7158, strengthening from earlier this week.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content