The Australian market is lower at noon despite reacting calmly to worse than expected unemployment figures.

Economists had expected the nation’s jobless rate to remain steady at six per cent but it grew to 6.4 per cent in July – its highest in 12 years.

Despite opening flat, the market had been trading lower before the the jobs announcement.

Commsec market analyst Juliana Roadley said traders had brushed aside the negative headline figure.

“I was looking at the market before the figures came out and… there’s not really that much reaction.

“The headline number might not be as great as the markets were expecting…. but really if you have a look at the overall picture it’s not as doom and gloom as it all seems.”

The weak trading could be due to soft openings on Asian markets, she said.

The Nikkei started the session 0.14 per cent lower at 15,138.72 on Thursday after five straight sessions of decline.

Meanwhile, local major resource stocks were mixed at noon.

BHP Billiton had lost one cent at $38.31, and Fortescue was down four cents to $4.65.

Rio Tinto was up 13 cents to $65.95 before the release of its half year results.

Natural gas company Envestra was up four cents, or 3.13 per cent to $1.32 after its biggest shareholder backed a $2.4 billion takeover bid by a Hong Kong company.

The big four bank were all in negative territory.

Commonwealth Bank was down 55 cents at $81.16, Westpac was 17 cents lower at $33.50, NAB had dipped 32 cents to $34.31 and ANZ had lost 35 cents to $32.63.

KEY FACTS

* On Thursday at 1200 AEST, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 18.9 points, or 0.34 per cent, at 5,493.1 points.

* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 18 points, or 0.33 per cent, at 5,486 points.

* At 1203 AEST the September share price index futures contract was down 17 points at 5,441, with 13,619 contracts traded.

* National turnover was 942 million shares worth $1.8 billion.