AXJO logs best month in five, falls 0.7% for day
Gold stocks mark steepest fall in three months
Miners fall 3.5%, financials up after two-day slide
Updates to close
By Shruti Agarwal
Jan 30 (Reuters) - Australian shares fell on Friday as index heavyweight miners and gold stocks retreated on profit-taking, with caution setting in ahead of the corporate earnings season and a central bank policy meeting next week.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO closed 0.7% lower at 8,869.10, but logged a 1.8% gain for the month, its biggest since August.
The pullback on Friday reflected profit-taking after a strong January, with caution prevailing ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia meeting and earnings season, said Marc Jocum, senior product and investment strategist at Global X ETFs.
"The earnings season will be central in determining whether recent gains are justified at the stock level," he said.
Meanwhile, ahead of the RBA meeting on Tuesday, markets were pricing in more than a 75% chance of a quarter-point hike in the 3.6% cash rate following a hotter-than-expected inflation report and a surprise decline in unemployment. 0#AUDIRPR
Gold miners .AXGD slumped 5.7% in their weakest session in three months, tracking a fall in bullion prices. The sub-index gained 11% this month on the back of a blistering rally in bullion prices. GOL/
Evolution Mining EVN.AX dropped 6.4% on Friday, while Northern Star Resources NST.AX fell 1.9%.
Miners .AXMM fell 3.5%, but were up 9.7% for the month. Rio Tinto RIO.AX and BHP BHP.AX fell 3.5% and 1.8%, respectively, on Friday.
Heavyweight miners look well positioned to take the leadership position from financials, Jocum said, noting that BHP overtaking Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX as the benchmark's largest company by market value signals a changing of the guard.
Rising commodity prices, China demand signals and the prospect of a broader super-cycle are becoming more influential for mining share prices than incremental production changes, he said.
Financials .AXFJ rebounded 0.5% after a two-day slide, with the "big four" banks up between 0.5% and 0.8%.
Amid monetary policy uncertainty, defensive sectors outperformed, with consumer staples .AXSJ and healthcare stocks .AXHJ adding 0.7% and 1.1%, respectively.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.6% to 13,423.18.
(Reporting by Shruti Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
((Shruti.Agarwal@thomsonreuters.com))