Aust stocks close lower

The Australian stock market finished an uninspired week of trading flat, as investors fled mining stocks to send the benchmark almost 0.5% lower at the Friday close.

Investors were unmoved by fresh record highs overnight on Wall Street and reassurances from Ben Bernanke on the timing of quantitative easing measures.

Materials gave up some of the gains posted after the major iron ore miners released strong production reports earlier in the week.

At the 1615 AEST official market close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell 0.43% to 4972.1 points and the broader All Ordinaries index shed 0.35% to 4,959.4 points.

CMC Markets senior trader Tim Waterer said that despite the upbeat lead from Wall Street, Australian equities failed to fire with the major sectors facing selling pressure to cap off the week. 

Trader’s would look to the G20 meeting over the weekend.

"Hoewever, the QE-guessing game will still likely dominate market attention for some time to come particularly over the coming weeks in the lead up to the next NFP report," Mr Waterer.