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The local share market has given back most of Thursday's gains in morning trading, but is still on pace for a respectable showing for the week.
The benchmark S&P/ASX index was down 40 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 7314.4 at noon AEDT on Friday, having risen 70.2 points, or 0.96 per cent the day before.
For the week the index was on track for a 54-point, 0.76 per cent rise, its fifth week of gains out of the past six weeks.
The broader All Ordinaries was down 39.1 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 7514.2 at midday.
The energy sector was the biggest loser, down two per cent ahead of this weekend's OPEC+ meeting, where the cartel will assess the impact of a looming Russian oil-price cap on the market.
Woodside was down 2.3 per cent to $35.80, Santos had dropped 2.2 per cent to $7.265 and Beach Energy was down 1.4 per cent to $1.82 as it raised its bid for Warrego Energy.
Warrego, a Perth Basin gas explorer now the subject of bids from three parties, was up 9.6 per cent to a three-year high of 28.5c.
Coalminers Whitehaven and New Hope were also both down, by around three per cent.
In the heavyweight mining sector, losses for the iron ore giants were outweighing gains for goldminers as the price of the precious metal hovered just below $US1,800 an ounce.
BHP had gained 1.5 per cent to $45.79, while Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto were both down 1.3 per cent, to $19.71 and $111.76, respectively.
Newcrest was up 2.9 per cent to a six-month high of $21.25, Northern Star had gained 2.0 per cent to a seven-month high of $11.14 and Evolution had risen 2.1 per cent to a five-month high of $2.92.
All the big banks were lower, with CBA down 1.1 per cent to $107.22, ANZ down 0.8 per cent to $24.76, Westpac dipping 0.6 per cent to $23.78 and NAB down 0.4 per cent to $31.56.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was buying 68.2.03 US cents, up from 68.25 US cents at Thursday's ASX close.
