Woodside Energy was 1.9 per cent lower while Santos slid by 1.5 per cent.

The Australian dollar rose sharply. It was fetching 68.84 US cents at 12.10pm AEST.

Overnight, the S&P 500 added 0.4 per cent to set an all-time high for the third time this week and the 42nd time this year. The Dow Jones gained 260 points, or 0.6 per cent, to finish just shy of its record, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6 per cent.

But drops for Exxon Mobil and other oil-and-gas companies kept the market’s gains in check.

The fall in oil prices overnight dragged Exxon Mobil’s stock down 1.7 per cent, and it was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500. ConocoPhillips sank 3.2 per cent.

The biggest drop in the S&P 500 hit Super Micro Computer, which gave back some of its huge gains after more than tripling last year amid the AI frenzy. Its stock tumbled 12.2 per cent following a report from The Wall Street Journal saying the US Department of Justice is probing the seller of servers and storage systems. The company declined to comment.

A prominent investor, Hindenburg Research, published a report in August that accused the company of accounting red flags and other issues, which CEO Charles Liang later said contained false or inaccurate statements.

In stock markets overseas, indexes were more buoyant on hopes for more moves by China to prop up the world’s second-largest economy. The country’s powerful Politburo on Thursday called for intensified efforts as China tries to meet its goals for economic growth, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

That follows a raft of announcements earlier in the week by the country’s central bank that had also sent global markets jumping. China’s economic growth has been flagging, and officials appear to be making a more coordinated effort following earlier piecemeal attempts to boost it.

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In the United States, meanwhile, more encouraging news came after a round of reports on Thursday suggested the world’s largest economy may be doing better than expected.

Fewer US workers applied for unemployment benefits last week in the latest signal that layoffs remain relatively low across the economy. A separate report said the overall US economy grew at a 3 per cent annual rate during the spring, as previously estimated. That’s a solid rate.

The hope on Wall Street is for a form of financial nirvana where the US economy’s growth can hold steady and keep profits for companies humming while the Federal Reserve continues to lower interest rates.

With AP