Despite an early bounce the S&P/ASX 200 fell 28 points, or 0.5%, to finish at 5546.

The materials sector was down 0.7%, with BHP Billiton off 0.7% to $A35.50 and Rio Tinto up 0.05% to $61.56.

Arrium, Iluka Resources and Newcrest Mining were other big movers among top stocks, with all three companies moving lower.

Iron ore miners were also down across the board and gold producers struggled, with Beadell Resources posting a heavy 5.3% fall to 43.5c.

Despite broad losses some smaller developers moved ahead, with Latin Resources up 24.2% to 4.6c on early drilling from the Ilo Este project in Peru.

Dart Mining also rose 37% to 3.7c on more positive updates from its Unicorn polymetallic project in Victoria.

Elsewhere, Energia Minerals rose 17.9% to 4.6c, while Thundelarra continued its recent fall, losing another 7.3% to 12.5c.

The downbeat performance came on the back of strong jobs data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which showed the jobless rate fell to 6.1% in August, with a surge in part-time jobs helping employers add an extra 121,000 jobs.

Analysts and economists were sceptical of the figures, which far outstripped forecasts.

Nevertheless, the positive data saw the Australian dollar temporarily jump above US92c before settling ahead at 91.66c.

In other parts of the market, Red Mountain Mining went into a trading halt pending details of a capital raising.