News: BHP Australia shares end lower as resource companies, banks drag

	  Miners shed 1% 

	  Energy stocks post best week since Feb. 2  

	  New Zealand's Fisher & Paykel Healthcare posts best day in more than 10 

months

Australian shares fell on Friday dragged by commodity-linked stocks and banks, while investors digested policy announcements from central banks and stronger-than-anticipated local jobs data this week.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) closed 0.2% lower at 7,770.60 points, posting its worst day in the week. The benchmark had risen 1.1% on Thursday.

Data on Thursday showed a strong recovery in local employment for February, which led investors to slash their interest rate cut bets to 37 basis points (bps) for the year from 44 bps.

The Australian central bank had held rates steady at a 12-year high of 4.35% earlier this week, but dropped its tightening bias.

"The employment figures may reinforce the Reserve Bank of Australia's message of the labour market being ‘too tight’ but the volatility in the labour market reports in prior months means that investors should be careful in interpolating the implications of one strong month of data," Kerry Craig, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan said.

In Sydney, miners .AXMM dropped 1% on Friday, but marked their best week since Feb. 2. Sector majors Rio Tinto (RIO) , BHP Group (BHP) and Fortescue (FMG) fell in the range of 0.5%-2.1%.

Energy stocks .AXEJ dipped 1.3% tracking an overnight fall in oil prices, with Woodside Energy (WDS) falling 1.8%. However, the subindex also posted its best week since Feb. 2.

Gold stocks .AXGD fell 1.3%, with top gold miners Perseus Mining (PRU) and Evolution Mining (EVN) shredding 2.9% and 2%, respectively.

Heavy-weight financials .AXFJ fell 0.2%, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) , National Australia Bank (NAB) and Westpac Banking Corp (WBC) shedding between 0.1%-0.8%.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) rose 0.5% at 11,978.62 points at close of trade.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (FPH) rose 5.7%, marking its best day in more than 10 months, after it upgraded forecast for the full year.