The Australian share market has fallen in the first hour of trade after Miner Oz Minerals rejected a takeover bid from mining giant BHP.
The All Ordinaries Index fell 0.2 per cent to 7,234, while the ASX 200 index dropped 0.2 per cent to 6,999 in early trade.
The ASX 200 had education stocks, real estate, consumer firms, technology, and financials in the red, with most of the sectors in the red weighing on the market.
In ASX 200, Oz Minerals 34.7 per cent was the best performer, followed by copper miner Sandfire Resources 7.2 per cent. The losses were carried by freight operator Aurizon -- 4.7 per cent and bank and insurer Suncorp -- 3.4 per cent.
Suncorp said its annual profit fell 34 per cent to $681 million because of natural-disaster claims.
Copper and nickel miner Oz Minerals has rebuffed an $8.3 billion takeover offer from BHP, which is pursuing metals that are crucial to the development of electric vehicles.
Oz Minerals said that the $25 a-share bid was highly opportunistic and significantly undervalued.
Last week, BHP said it would increase spending on nickel exploration over the next two years to meet growing demand for the metal used in electric vehicle batteries.
BHP has supply agreements with Ford, Toyota, and Tesla through its Nickel West unit.
Oz Mineral shares went up nearly 35 per cent at 10: 20 am AEST to $25.49, while BHP shares rose 0.7 per cent to $39.07.
Wall Street ended up mixed on Friday after a strong US employment report reignited fears of more interest rate rises by the Federal Reserve.
The unemployment rate fell to 3.5 per cent, as US employers hired more workers than expected in July.
The S&P 500 index fell by 0.16 per cent to 4,145, the Dow Jones index rose 0.2 per cent to 32,804 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5 per cent to 4,145.