Australian shares gave back a big chunk of Wednesday’s recovery, tracking the risk-off sentiment that swept most equity markets.
The S&P/ASX 200 settled down 0.4% at 6649.1 and has now declined in four of the last five sessions.
The energy sector was a particular drag after a retreat in crude prices overnight, though the financial, mining, industrial and utilities sectors also weakened. Woodside Petroleum sank 2.7%, the sharpest fall in about eight weeks, after logging weaker quarterly production. Santos and miner South32 also each lost 1.7% after turning in their own quarterly output numbers.
Still, Lendlease rallied 4.8% after signing an agreement to develop mixed-use neighborhoods for Google in the San Francisco Bay area.

U.S. stocks broke into positive territory late after a Federal Reserve official urged central banks to lower interest rates swiftly on signs of economic weakening.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3 points, or less than 0.1%, to 27223. The S&P 500 was up 0.3% at a session high and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.2%.
Shares of Netflix fell 10.3% as the company missed targets for new subscribers overseas. IBM shares rose 4.6% as its quarterly profit beat on strong growth in its high-margin cloud business.

Gold futures fell after the precious commodity notched a fresh six-year high Wednesday, prompted by a cocktail of lower debt yields, a pause in dollar strength and bullish comments from a prominent hedge-fund investor.
August gold trading on Comex tacked on $4.80, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,428.10 an ounce, after climbing by 0.9% on Wednesday. The latest settlement was the highest for a most-active contract since May 13, 2013, FactSet data show.
In other commodity markets, September wheat prices fell 12 cents to $4.93 1/2 cents.

Oil prices fell to a one-month low as concerns about demand outweighed potential supply risks.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell 2.6% to $55.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, closing at its lowest level since June 19. Brent, the global benchmark, declined 2.7% to $61.93.

The dollar was down slightly against a broad basket of currencies intraday, having failed to sustain momentum following the release of strong mid-Atlantic manufacturing data.
Investors still expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates later this month — a drag on the dollar. But they also expect other major central banks to pursue dovish policies, and that has kept the dollar from falling further. The WSJ Dollar Index recently down 0.1% at 90.06.

In Europe, stocks were edging lower, with the Stoxx Europe 600 down 0.86 points, or 0.22%, to 386.80.
The index is down 2.30 points, or 0.59%, over the last two trading days.
The FTSE 100 Index was down 42.37 points, or 0.56%, to 7493.09 — the largest one-day point and percentage decline since July 5. The French CAC-40 Index was down 21.16 points, or 0.38%, to 5550.55.
And the German DAX was down 113.18 points, or 0.92%, to 12227.85.

Japanese stocks ended lower, extending earlier losses, as the yen strengthened against the dollar due to continuing speculation for Federal Reserve’s rate cuts.
Energy and electronics fell especially sharply. JXTG Holdings fell 4.1%. Mitsubishi Electric was 3.6% lower. The Nikkei ended down 2.0% at 21046.24.
Meanwhile, Korea’s benchmark Kospi closed 0.3% lower at 2066.55, largely brushing off the Bank of Korea’s surprise rate cut. The BOK’s earlier-than-expected dovish act helped offset an otherwise deeper pullback, but the favorable move was overwhelmed by deep worries about likely weak second-quarter corporate earnings and Japan’s export curbs on some key high-tech materials to Korea, said a Seoul-based Samsung Securities analyst.
The decline was led by shipbuilding, pharmaceutical and construction stocks.
The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1%. Progress toward a trade deal has stalled while the Trump administration determines how to address Beijing’s demands that it ease restrictions on Huawei Technologies, people familiar with the talks said. No face-to-face meetings have taken place and none have been scheduled since President Trump and President Xi Jinping of China met last month in Japan and agreed to resume talks.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed down 0.5% at 28461.66, weighed down by technology and energy stocks.
Singapore shares closed lower, weighed by recently-hit property stocks. The Straits Times Index closed down 0.1% at 3361.05. And Malaysia’s benchmark stock index ended at a fresh one-month low, as Asian markets were dragged by a weak sentiment for equities globally. Market breadth was negative with losers outnumbering gainers by 575 to 270. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index closed 0.5% lower at 1648.93.