Day traders' after-market lounge March 14

Thanks afternoon crew.

End-of-day summary:

The share market fell back towards its low for this week as ratings downgrades for the big banks overshadowed a positive session for miners.

The ASX 200 faded to a loss of 16 points or 0.2%. The fall erased much of the gains of the last two sessions.

Gold and copper miners outperformed. Sandfire, Evolution Mining and Silver Lake Resources were the day's best on the index, all gaining at least 5.7%. South32 was the pick of the heavyweights, supported by BHP, Rio Tinto and Newmont.

The heavily-weighted major banks dictated the overall direction, losing between 1.13% and 3.76% after Macquarie cut its ratings on ANZ, NAB and Westpac to 'Underperform' following last week's multi-year highs. The broker had already lowered CBA to the same rating after it hit record levels.

US stocks provided limited direction after a mixed finish overnight ahead of wholesale inflation data this evening. The S&P 500 gave up 0.19%. The Nasdaq lost 0.54%. The Dow gained 0.1%.