Falls on Wall Street and a slump in crude oil prices pushed the Australian share market down to a six-day low in quiet trading Thursday, with materials and energy stocks bearing the brunt of the selloff.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed down 85.4 points or 2.3% at 3694.3 after falling to 3662.6. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.7% Wednesday on weak private sector jobs data, lower oil prices and bearish news from Alcoa, Intel and Time Warner. U.S. non-farm payrolls data for December are due Friday and Alcoa reports fourth quarter earnings on Monday.

Newcrest fell 4.5% to A$28.35 and Lihir fell 5.8% to A$2.46 as spot gold fell US$22.35 or 2.6% to US$840.85. Woodside fell 6.0% to A$36.43 after Nymex crude oil tumbled US$5.95 or 12% to US$42.63 as U.S. inventories rose 6.7 million barrels versus 1.5 million consensus. Macquarie Group fell just 3.7% at A$32.50 despite saying that fourth quarter market conditions were exceptionally challenging for almost all Macquarie businesses, adversely impacting business activity and profitability. Some traders viewed the announcement as a profit warning, but others said a tough fourth quarter had already been anticipated by the market.

Banks outperformed after lagging recently, with Westpac down 1.8% at A$16.57, National Australia Bank down 0.1% at A$20.86, ANZ down 0.9% at A$15.22 and Commonwealth Bank down 1.4% at A$28.56. CBA bounced from a six-day low of A$28.04 after Dow Jones Newswires reported CBA's funding requirement for the fiscal year ending June 30 2009 would be less than anticipated. CBA has raised A$20 billion this financial year and Treasurer Lyn Cobley said weaker demand in the market means it will not need to borrow the full A$28 billion in funding it forecast for the financial year.

Some recent laggards including the property, healthcare and consumer staples sectors saw decent gains, with Westfield up 1.1% at A$13.66, CSL up 1.9% at A$30.82 and Woolworths up 1.6% at A$26.02. Nufarm rose 4.3% to A$10.70 and Incitec Pivot rose 3.1% to A$2.63 after Monsanto's (MON) profit more than doubled as farmers bought higher-priced seeds and chemicals despite a cooling farm economy and global economic downturn.