Australian shares ended lower on Friday, mirroring Wall Street, with financials and materials draging the index as investors turned cautious ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration as president. The S&P/ASX 200 index ended 0.7 percent or 37.38 points lower to end the session at 5,654.80. It closed 0.2 percent higher on Thursday after CSL Ltd hit a 15-year high on its profit upgrade.
The index fell 1.2 percent this week, extending losses into a second week.
Financials ended the week 2.8 percent lower, posting a third losing week in the past four weeks of trade.
All of the "Big Four" banks extended losses into a second week, declining between 2.7 percent and 4.1 percent.
With investors wary before Trump's inauguration, safe-haven buying pushed up gold prices which remain on track for their fourth weekly gain in a row.
Miners dropped as much as 1.8 percent in the day to their biggest intraday percentage loss since December 16, 2016.
Global miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton Ltd shed 1.9 percent and 1.3 percent respectively.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.2 percent or 13.89 points to finish the session at 7,048.47.
Utilities were the biggest drag on the index with Spark New Zealand Ltd and hydro-electric power producer Meridian Energy Ltd declining 0.9 percent and 1.1 percent respectively.
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