The Australian stock market has finished in the red, weighed down by poorly performing resources stocks. The Materials sector finished down 0.99%. Investors were cautious about how economies in China and Asia are generally tracking.
Meanwhile, Australia's trade balance figures for November showed a better-than-expected lift in mining and resources exports helped to narrow the deficit for the fourth consecutive month. But it wasn't enough to change the miners' fortunes.
Among the major miners BHP Billiton was down 35 cents, or 0.93%, at $37.21, Rio Tinto had lost $1.75, or 2.6% to $66.00 and iron ore producer Fortescue Metals was 27 cents, or 4.7%, worse at $5.44.
Westpac was four cents weaker at $32.08, ANZ was down 13 cents at $31.86, and National Australia Bank had fallen five cents to $34.50. But Commonwealth Bank had added 12 cents to $77.72. QBE was up 1.19% to $11.87.
Wesfarmers climbed four cents to $43.67 while Woolworths fell four cents to $33.76.
The Australian dollar is currently trading at 0.8918 US dollars. Against other currencies the AUD is at; 0.6545 Euros; 0.5439 Pounds; and 93.1665
