At midday AEDT on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 43.3 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 8,431.6, while the broader All Ordinaries had dipped 45.8 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 8,698.7.
Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda said that markets were taking something off the table ahead of the US non-farm payrolls report, due Friday night Australia time.
Mr Rodda said it was a "garden variety pullback going into a significant risk event which, incidentally, will either seal the deal for a Fed cut in two weeks, or cast a degree of doubt about it."
The pullback means the ASX200 was on track at midday to finish the week basically unchanged, with a few hours of trading left.
Nine of the ASX's 11 sectors were lower at midday, with utilities and property higher.
Energy and tech were the biggest losers, both collectively dropping 1.1 per cent.
Woodside was down 1.7 per cent and Wisetech Global had fallen 1.9 per cent.
In the heavyweight mining sector, BHP was down 0.5 per cent, Fortescue had dropped 0.7 per cent and Rio Tinto had fallen 1.0 per cent.
The big four banks were mixed, with Westpac down 0.9 per cent and NAB dipping 0.4 per cent, while ANZ was basically flat and CBA had edged 0.1 per cent higher.
In utilities, APA Group was up 2.4 per cent after the Australian Energy regulator confirmed that the pipeline operator's South West Queensland Pipeline would not be subject to full price regulation.
The Australian dollar had slipped further against its US counterpart, buying 64.29 US cents, from 64.37 US cents at Thursday's ASX close.
The Aussie traded below 64.50 US cents for a week in April, but otherwise hasn't been below that level since November 2023.
Meanwhile in cryptocurrency, bitcoin had stumbled after hitting an all-time high of $US103,900 on Thursday afternoon, the first time it had ever reached six figures.
Around 9.20am AEDT the original cryptocurrency plunged suddenly, falling as low as $US94,035. By midday it had recovered somewhat, changing hands at just under $US97,900.
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