At 10:30 (AEST), the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 11.60 points or 0.17 percent at 6,648.60, while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 17.50 points or 0.25 percent at 6,882.80.
Resource stocks were the biggest weight with iron ore miners firmly lower, as were oil and gas companies.
Market heavyweights, the banks were losing ground in early trade as were tech stocks, coming off the back of a 4 percent rally over the past five sessions.
Offsetting some of the losses were consumer stocks, industrials, healthcare and real estate.
In the financial space, the big banks sank with Commonwealth Bank down (0.73 percent), ANZ down (0.81 percent), National Australia Bank down (0.76 percent) and Westpac Bank down (0.40 percent).
Mining stocks slumped with Rio Tinto down (0.65 percent), BHP down (2.18 percent), Fortescue Metals down (2.44 percent) and goldminer Newcrest down (0.56 percent).
The country's oil and gas producers dropped with Oil Search down (1.87 percent), Santos down (1.83 percent) and Woodside Petroleum down (1.21 percent).
Australia's largest supermarkets rallied with Coles up (1.65 percent), and Woolworths up (0.66 percent).
Meanwhile telecommunications giant Telstra was unchanged (0 percent), the national carrier Qantas lost altitude (0.99 percent) and biomedical firm CSL dropped (0.15 percent).
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