Australian shares slip as banks count cost, miners gain

The local share market has slipped, with losses by the big banks and the tech sector outweighing a sterling performance by miners.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Tuesday finished 30 points lower at 8,393.0, a decline of 0.36 per cent, while the broader All Ordinaries dipped 37 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 8,650.0.

The Australian dollar slid back under 64 US cents following the Reserve Bank issuing dovish commentary as it left rates on hold, as expected.

The commentary suggested a high chance the central bank would cut rates in February rather than May, AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said.

Currencies are very sensitive to interest rates and the Aussie dropped from 64.10 US cents to 63.88 US cents in the space of two minutes following the RBA's announcement.

A little past 5pm it had recovered slightly, buying 63.98 US cents.

The domestic dollar also dipped below 64 US cents late Friday and Monday, but otherwise the only time it has been below that level in the past two years was in October and November 2023.

The ASX200 jumped 35 points in the space of five minutes after the RBA announcement, but gave back some of those gains by the end of the day.

Seven of the ASX's 11 sectors finished lower, with energy, consumer staples and materials/mining gaining ground.

The mining sector rose 3.04 per cent, its best performance since a 3.37 per cent gain in November 2022.

BHP rose 3.1 per cent to $41.83, Fortescue climbed 6.2 per cent to $20.45 and Rio Tinto gained 4.9 per cent to $125.28.

Goldminers also did well as the safe-haven metal changed hands at $US2,671, its highest level in two weeks, as the People's Bank of China - a major buyer - announced it was resuming purchases after a six-month hiatus.

Northern Star rose 2.4 per cent, Evolution added 5.0 per cent and Westgold Resources climbed 3.8 per cent.

Elsewhere, the tech sector fell 4.0 per cent, its worst performance in two-and-a-half weeks.

A Chinese anti-trust investigation into Nvidia may have weighed on sentiment, although there's no direct connection to ASX-listed companies.

Wisetech Global and Xero both dropped 4.4 per cent, Megaport tumbled 5.4 per cent and Technology One retreated 3.3 per cent.

The big four banks all had a decidedly down day.

NAB dropped 2.8 per cent to $37.64, Westpac fell 1.9 per cent to $32.24, ANZ slid 1.8 per cent to $29.48 and CBA dipped 1.1 per cent to $157.63.

Some of the year's strong performers also had a sharp losses, with Pro Medicus falling 9.0 per cent to a one-week low of $244.33, Zip dropping 5.2 per cent to a six-week low of $2.94 and Life360 falling 5.2 per cent to a six-month low of $22.77.

Back in the financial sector, Perpetual tumbled 8.4 per cent to a four-week low of $20.07 after the fund manager announced its proposed acquisition by US private equity firm KKR might involve a tax bill of $500 million.

Perpetual believes it has strong grounds to dispute the ruling by the Australian Taxation Office, but doing would be a protracted process and there was no certainty over the outcome.

In the consumer discretionary sector, Myer was up 1.3 per cent to a one-week high of $1.215 after executive chairwoman Olivia Wirth told the department store's annual general meeting that while recent trading had still been challenging, the Black Friday sales period had been encouraging.

ON THE ASX:

* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Tuesday fell 30 points, or 0.36 per cent, at 8,393.0

* The broader All Ordinaries dropped 37 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 8,650.

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:

One Australian dollar buys:

* 63.98 US cents, from 63.88 US cents at Monday's ASX close

* 96.62 Japanese yen, from 95.77 Japanese yen

* 60.58 euro cents, from 60.59 euro cents

* 50.16 British pence, from 50.19 pence

* 109.67 NZ cents, from 109.90 NZ cents