Australian shares slid on Thursday as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the release of key US economic data and the upcoming presidential elections.

The S&P/ASX 200 slid 0.3% or 20.4 points to close at 8,160.

Investors continued to be risk-averse ahead of the presidential elections slated for Tuesday in the US, Reuters reported.

In addition, the market is keeping an eye on US non-farm payroll data slated for release Friday and the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting next week.

On the domestic front, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that the country's seasonally adjusted retail turnover rose 0.1% in September following a 0.7% increase in August.

In a separate statement, the statistics bureau said that dwelling approvals in Australia rose 4.4% month on month to 14,842 in September, following a 3.9% decline in the previous year.

It also said that the country's export price index fell 4.3% in the September quarter, while the import price index shed 1.4%.

Finally, the Reserve Bank of Australia said Australia's total credit increased 0.5% month over month in September, matching the growth rate in August.

In corporate news, Coles Group's (ASX:COL) sales revenue rose 2.9% to AU$10.55 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 from AU$10.25 billion in the year-ago period. Supermarket sales for the three months ended Sept. 29 grew 3.5% year on year to AU$9.51 billion, while liquor sales were flat at AU$851 million. The company's shares closed down almost 1%.

Meanwhile, Mineral Resources' (ASX:MIN) shares jumped 9% at market close as the mining firm shipped 4.5 million wet metric tonnes of attributable iron ores in the fiscal first quarter ended Sept. 30 from its Onslow Iron, Pilbara, and Yilgarn hubs.

Lastly, JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH) reported sales growth across its three segments in the first quarter ended Sept. 30 of the fiscal year 2025. Its shares rose 5% at market close.