Australian shares have posted their biggest drop in six weeks, as commodity stocks dragged the resource-heavy bourse lower due to a slump in gold and iron ore prices.

The ASX 200 was down 61 points or 0.9 per cent to 7,054, with all sectors down just after midday.

At the same time, the Australian dollar was up at 68.90 US cents.

The gold sub-index led losses, dropping 3.4 per cent to hit its lowest levels since late July, as a strong US dollar hurt bullion prices.

Gold miners Predictive Discovery and Westgold Resources were the top losers on the sub-index, down 7 per cent and 3.7 per cent, respectively.

Following suit, domestic miners retreated 0.7 per cent and were set for their worst day since early August, as demand woes in China kept iron ore prices at bay.

Among individual stocks, Rio Tinto lost 1.1 per cent while Fortescue was flat.

Interest rate sensitive technology stocks slid 1.6 per cent, tracking their US peers lower after a broad sell-off on Wall Street on Friday led by mega-caps.

Technologyone was among top laggards on the sub-index, down 0.7 per cent.

However, shares of aerial imagery firm Nearmap jumped 5.3 per cent after it agreed to a $1.06 billion takeover offer from private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

Investors keenly look to US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole central bankers' symposium on Friday for clues on future rate hikes and near-term policy outlook.

Energy stocks slipped 0.7 per cent but the country's biggest fuel supplier Ampol adding 2.1 per cent, as the company said it reported its highest ever half-year profit while setting a record dividend.

Brent crude oil was down, trading at $US95.65 a barrel, by 12:11pm AEST. 

Heavyweight financials lost 0.9 per cent, with the country's so-called 'Big Four' banks tumbling between 0.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent.

Adbri shares hit lowest level in about two years

Shares of construction material maker Adbri plunged more than 18 per cent to $2.18, after reporting a 15 per cent fall in half yearly net profit to $48.1 million.

The company's underlying net profit after tax was down 1.3 per cent to $54.3 million.

Adbri said 8 per cent growth in revenue to $812.4 million did not reflect in net profit after tax due to wet weather events, higher raw material, shipping and fuel costs.

The firm's interim ordinary dividend was 5 cents per share fully franked, which is down from 5.5 cents per share in 1H21.

On the flip side, EML Payments' shares jumped 7.1 per cent after reporting an after-tax loss for FY22 of $4.8 million, which was an improvement on FY21's $28.7 million loss.

The company said its underlying net profit was down 1 per cent to $32.1 million.

It also announced an on-market share buy-back program of up to $20 million as part of a proactive capital management strategy.

Wall St pushes stocks down

US stocks fell and the dollar rose on Friday, even as Treasury yields gained, with traders anxious about inflation and what the Federal Reserve will do to combat it.

With higher rates looming, large technology stocks such as Amazon and Alphabet fell more than 2 per cent. 

Major banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America Corp, and Deutsche Bank declined more than 2 per cent, a reversal of the sector's late-summer rebound. And an earnings miss by heavy equipment maker Deere & Co added to the risk-off mood.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.86 per cent, to 33,706.15, the S&P 500 lost 1.29 per cent, to 4,228.37, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped about 2 per cent, to 12,705.22.

European shares fell on Friday and posted a weekly loss as the highest-ever jump in German producer prices in July added to gloom over the economic outlook. The pan-European STOXX 600 ended 0.8 per cent lower.

The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, was down 1.3 per cent.

"When market participants start to return from their holidays and look back … they will find central banks still far from having achieved their goals of reining in inflation," ING rates strategists said in a note to clients.

"That means a continued tussle between central bank tightening expectations and recession fears."

ABC/Reuters