Aussie shares ease, but set to finish week in the green

The local share market was slightly lower in morning trade, dipping after US inflation came in hotter than expected while weekly American jobless claims topped expectations.

At noon AEDT on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 15.6 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 8,208.6, while the broader All Ordinaries had gained 10.9 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 8,487.8.

For the week the ASX200 was up 60.2 points, or 0.74 per cent, on track to basically recoup the previous week's 62.2 points of losses.

Overnight the US Labor Department reported "core" consumer prices, excluding volatile food and energy costs, rose unexpectedly in September. Weekly jobless claims came in at 258,000, compared to consensus expectations of 230,000.

"While it would be a little rogue to start making grand proclamations about an economy exhibiting stagflationary characteristics - clearly that's not true - any time you see signs of softer labour demand but marginally higher price pressures, the markets don't respond favourably," said Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda.

At midday seven of the ASX's 11 sectors were lower, with energy, industrials, health care and technology higher.

Property was the biggest mover, falling 0.7 per cent as Goodman Group dropped 0.8 per cent and Charter Hall lost 1.0 per cent.

The heavyweight mining sector was down 0.3 per cent, with losses for the big iron ore miners outweighing gains for goldminers.

BHP was down 0.8 per cent, Rio Tinto had dropped 0.5 per cent and Fortescue had fallen 1.2 per cent.

Northern Star had added 1.4 per cent, Evolution had grown 1.0 per cent and Newmont had risen 1.7 per cent as gold changed hands at a two-day high of $US2,635 an ounce.

The big four banks were having a more subdued day, with ANZ up 0.3 per cent, CBA down 0.5 per cent, and Westpac and NAB basically flat.

The Australian dollar was buying 67.39 US cents, from 67.30 US cents at Thursday's ASX close.