At 10:30 (AEST), the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 10.70 points or 0.17 percent at 6,407.50, while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 7 points or 0.11 percent at 6,612.40.
News of a promising COVID-19 vaccine candidate drove stocks higher throughout the week, with energy shares up 13 percent in the previous five sessions.
By early trade on Friday however the sector was trending 1.6 percent lower as investor optimism ran out of steam.
Still performing strongly were materials, tech and communications all starting the day around 0.3 percent higher.
Weighing on the bourse, aside from oil companies, were the banks which all fell with the exception of the Commonwealth Bank which edged higher.
In the financial space, the big banks were mostly lower with Westpac Bank down (1.42 percent), ANZ down (0.44 percent) and National Australia Bank down (1.03 percent), however Commonwealth Bank was up (0.11 percent).
Mining stocks were mostly higher Rio Tinto up (0.12 percent), Fortescue Metals up (1.63 percent) and goldminer Newcrest up (2.07 percent), however BHP was down (1.18 percent).
The country's oil and gas producers varied with Oil Search up (0.28 percent), Santos down (2.55 percent) and Woodside Petroleum down (1.25 percent).
Australia's largest supermarkets lifted with Coles up (0.53 percent), and Woolworths up (0.34 percent).
Meanwhile telecommunications giant Telstra rallied (0.65 percent), the national carrier Qantas dropped (1.58 percent) and biomedical firm CSL rallied (0.45 percent).
Latest comments