Drugmaker CSL kept the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index afloat for much of the session before a late boost from Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).
Shares closed 0.4% up at 6,517.1 but have lost 3% over the week in thin trade as investors awaited a U.S. jobs report later in the day for further signals on the state of the world's largest economy and the potential for further cuts to U.S. intyerest rates.
Poor U.S. manufacturing and private jobs figures on Wednesday and Thursday had rattled Australian and global markets.
CBA reversed early losses to end the session 0.3% up, with its Big Four peers closing with declines between 0.3% and 0.5%.
The life insurance arm of CBA was charged with dozens of breaches of a law banning sales staff from cold-calling customers to sell financial products.
It capped a difficult week for banks after the latest interest rate cut and the potential for further easing to heap more pressure on their margins.
The financial index registered its biggest decline since October last year.
Yet CSL, one of Australia's biggest companies by market value, jumped by 3.2% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the company.
Elsewhere, energy and mining stocks rose as oil and commodities prices edged higher.
Fortescue Metals Group gained 2.1% while Australia's leading independent oil and gas explorer and producer Woodside Petroleum added 0.3%.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index ended 0.7% higher, up 71.61 points at 10,892.82.
Fonterra and Mercury NZ advanced by 3.3% and 4.1% respectively.