(Reuters) - Australian shares closed lower on Wednesday, pressured by a drop in gold miners, while investors waited for progress on trade talks between the United States and China.
The S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> shed early gains, to fall 0.6%, or 36.90 points, to 6,660.20 at the close of trade. The benchmark had risen 0.2% on Tuesday.
Washington and Beijing are working to narrow their differences enough to sign a "phase one" trade deal as early as this month, but the venue for signing the deal was not yet finalised.
"There's a tentative deal, but until something is put on paper and signed, investors are still going to be a little cautious in buying," said Steven Daghlian, market analyst at CommSec.
"For now, there's a little bit of optimism, but it's not shooting the lights out by any means."
Gold stocks <.AXGD> plunged 2.4% to hit a four-and-a-half month low after spot prices <XAU=> tumbled more than 2% overnight amid expectations that the United States might drop tariffs on some Chinese imports.
Newcrest Mining Ltd <NCM.AX> closed down 2.6%, while Northern Star Resources <NST.AX> shed 2.4%.
Smaller miners, such as Saracen Mineral Holdings <SAR.AX>, St Barbara Ltd <SBM.AX> and Regis Resources <RRL.AX> fell between 1.4% and 3%.
Daghlian also said that investors were awaiting October trade data out of China on Friday and inflation data a day later. China is Australia's largest trading partner and weakness in Beijing's economy has potential to spill over into trade.
Financial stocks, down 0.2%, were dragged by Medibank Private Ltd's <MPL.AX> 8.5% fall after the insurer reported it experienced higher-than-expected claims since August, and said it expected the trend to continue into the rest of 2019.
Adding pressure, Bank of Queensland <BOQ.AX> tumbled 4.3% as the stock traded ex-dividend.
Healthcare stocks <.AXHJ> fell more than 1%, with heavyweight CSL Ltd <CSL.AX> dropping 0.9%, while Cochlear Ltd <COH.AX> lost 1.9%.
U.S.-based medical equipment maker Resmed Inc <RMD.AX> lost 3.5% as the company's shares traded ex-dividend.
Capping losses in markets, mining giant BHP Group added 1.5%, while manganese and aluminium miner South32 Ltd <S32.AX> rose 2.7%.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index <.NZ50> fell 0.8% or 82.36 points to finish the session at 10,759.18.
Dairy giant a2 Milk Company Ltd <ATM.NZ> fell 3.6%, while Synlait Milk Ltd <SML.NZ> slipped 1.6%.
(Reporting by Rashmi Ashok in Bengaluru, editing by Amy Caren Daniel)
