News: XEJ Australian shares drop as miners and gold stocks tank; RBA meeting on tap

	  Financials hit worst week in over six months 

	  Miners, gold stocks drag the benchmark down 

	  Investors await next week's RBA meeting 

(Updates to close)

Australian shares fell for a second consecutive day on Friday, dragged by mining and gold stocks, as investors awaited cues on the Reserve Bank of Australia's monetary policy stance ahead of the central bank's meeting next week.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) ended the session down 0.6% at 7,670.300 points. It shed 2.3% for the week, marking its worst performance since Sept. 22

"The two main sectors, miners and banks, are a sell. Our market was always trading at extreme multiples and now the sentiment is negative," said Mathan Somasundaram, founder and CEO of DeepData Analytics.

Stocks in Sydney fell, tracking their U.S. peers, which declined following higher-than-expected producer prices in February, dampening already subdued bets for rate cuts.

The RBA is expected to maintain its key interest rate at 4.35% at least until September end, according to a Reuters poll.

Miners .AXMM and gold stocks .AXGD declined 1.9% and 2.2% respectively, amid sluggish underlying commodity prices.

Iron ore prices kept declining on weaker demand from China, compounded by the Chinese central bank's decision to maintain its one-year medium-term lending facility loans rate at 2.50%.

"We had nearly 18 months of speculation that stimulus was going to come and China will go back to building property cycle again. It was wrong all that time and is clearly not going to happen in the near future," DeepData's Somasundaram said.

Graphite producer Syrah Resources (SYR) led the fall in miners, declining 19.9%, marking its worst fall since Sept. 26, 2022, following a discounted placement.

Among the gold miners, Emerald Resources (EMR) shed 10.1%.

Financials .AXFJ ended 0.2% lower, with Westpac Banking (WBC) , one of the traditional "Big-Four" banks, losing 1.1%.

Conversely, energy stocks .AXEJ advanced 2% after oil prices rose earlier in the day.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) fell 0.4% to close at 11,766.9800.