At lunchtime AEST, the S&P/ASX200 was at 8,001.5, down 25.5 points, or 0.32 per cent, from Thursday's close.
Earlier in the morning, it had been as many as 20 points above and 10 points below 8,000.
The broader All Ordinaries was down 28.1 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 8,230.0.
With a few hours of trading left, the ASX200 was set to finish the week up half a percentage point, after rising 2.5 per cent last week - its best weekly performance since December.
While a finish in the red would snap its longest winning streak in nearly a decade, the market was certainly within striking distance of an afternoon climb into the green, as occurred on Wednesday.
The morning's drop came ahead of Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell addressing an annual monetary conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Traders will be keeping an eagle eye on his speech to watch for any hints about the pace of interest rate cuts.
Five of the ASX's 11 sectors were lower at midday and four were higher, with its two consumer sectors basically flat.
The energy sector was the biggest mover at lunchtime, falling 1.3 per cent as Whitehaven Coal dropped 8.2 per cent and Woodside dipped 1.0 per cent.
Inghams was the biggest loser in the ASX200, falling 19.8 per cent to a one-year low of $3.105 after the poultry producer disclosed it was close to signing a new supply contract with Woolworths that would cut volumes.
Chief executive and managing director Andrew Reeves called it a manageable change driven by Woolworths' desire to ensure it had a diversity of poultry suppliers to safeguard against disruptions.
Spark had dropped 6.8 per cent to a four-year low of $3.655 after the Kiwi telecommunications company announced that its full-year profit was down 72 per cent to $NZ316 million ($A289 million).
"It has been a challenging year for Spark and for many businesses across Aotearoa, with recessionary economic conditions creating a tough operating environment," chairwoman Justine Smyth said.
Telix was down 5.1 per cent to $18.77 after the Melbourne-based radiopharmaceutical company announced it had swung to a first-half net profit of $29.7 million, compared to a $14.3 million loss a year ago.
Managing director and chief executive Dr Christian Behrenbruch said that Telix believed that the radiopharmaceutical sector was at an inflection point and it had the proven commercial ability to advance its product pipeline.
On the flip side Fisher & Paykel Healthcare had soared 10.7 per cent to a three-year high of $32.465 after the Kiwi respiratory product company upgraded guidance.
"The year to date has begun strongly across all products and regions," said managing director and CEO Lewis Gradon.
In the financial sector, three of the four big retail banks were little changed, with ANZ the outlier.
It was down 1.6 per cent to $29.46 after the financial regulator APRA required it to hold an additional $250 million in risk capital following issues in its markets business.
Insurance companies IAG, Suncorp and QBE were all up a little more than a percentage point.
In the heavyweight mining sector, Fortescue and BHP were both down 0.7 per cent, while Rio Tinto had fallen 1.2 per cent.
Goldminers were down as the price of the precious metal slipped $US2,490. Northern Star was down 1.7 per cent, Evolution had dropped 1.2 per cent and Red5 was 4.7 per cent lower.
The Australian dollar was buying 67.17 US cents, from 67.44 US cents at Wednesday's ASX close
4°C