The Australian market declined in its first trading session of October, with mining stocks experiencing a sharp pullback.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped by 60.9 points, or 0.7%, closing at 8208.9 and ending a three-day winning streak.
Miners were the worst-performing sector, declining by 2.3% as iron ore futures in Singapore ended their six-session winning streak, slipping by 0.5%.
The banking sector also suffered, closing 1.3% as Commonwealth Bank dropped 1.5%, Macquarie Group lost 1.7% and ANZ fell 1.1%.
In corporate news, Sigma Healthcare surged 22.6% after announcing plans to introduce data-sharing rules aimed at alleviating regulatory concerns surrounding its proposed $700 million merger with Chemist Warehouse.
Meanwhile, Qantas shares fell 3.4% to $7.17 following the announcement that Qatar Airways is set to acquire a 25% stake in Virgin Australia.
REA Group saw its shares rise 4.9% to $210.80 after announcing it would abandon its pursuit of UK real estate platform Rightmove.
On the bond markets, 10-year and 2-year rates were at 3.99% and 3.619%, respectively.
