Energy stocks advanced nearly 2% at midday Thursday. Brent crude futures jumped 2.5% to $69.31 per barrel earlier, while US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 2.5% to $64.99 per barrel.

Karoon Energy (ASX:KAR), whose shares jumped over 6% in recent trading, said it intends to start the repurchase of about $25 million of its shares, part of its $75 million on-market buyback program, on Oct. 23, conditional on receiving shareholder approval.

However, the industrials sector fell almost 1%. On Wall Street, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 indexes both fell 0.3% while the Dow Jones index declined 0.4%.

Computershare (ASX:CPU) entered into a definitive agreement to sell its UK mortgage services business to Advantage Odyssey for an undisclosed amount. The company expects the deal to result in a one-off statutory pre-tax loss on sale of roughly 35 million pounds sterling to 40 million pounds sterling, reflecting foreign currency translation reserves and goodwill allocations.