Australian shares slipped 0.2 percent on Friday pulled down by shares in mining and gold as news of a Republican collapse in the US "fiscal cliff" wrangle weighed on investor sentiment leading up to the Christmas break. Miners BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Ltd both lost 0.9 percent. Gold miner Newcrest Mining slipped 0.1 percent while Evolution slumped 6.4 percent.
Republican lawmakers delivered a stinging rebuke to their leader, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, on Thursday when they failed to back an effort designed to extract concessions from President Barack Obama in fiscal cliff talks. "News of the Republican non-vote threw a spanner in the works," said Tim Waterer, senior trader at CMC Markets. "The rosier-looking morning sentiment had taken a more solemn tone by the afternoon, with traders pulling in the reins on a market advance given the stagnated US budget talks."
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was 10.5 points lower at 4,623.6, still near the highs reached earlier this week. The market has advanced 13.8 percent over 2012. Defensives were mostly soft with supermarket retailers Woolworths Ltd losing 0.2 percent while Wesfarmers was trading flat. Australia's no.1 telecommunications provider Telstra slipped 0.2 percent. Banks were strong, with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia leading gains, up 0.8 percent. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index fell 0.5 percent or 20.7 points to 4,054.7.