Australia's share market has snapped a four day winning streak, after finishing a little weaker despite gains to miners and banks. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed down 5.8 points, or 0.13 per cent, at 4524.1 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 5.9 points, or 0.13 per cent, at 4536.2 points.

On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the September share price index contract was 13 points lower at 4,495 on a volume of 19,222 contracts. Mining giant BHP Billiton closed up 26 cents, or 0.65 per cent, at $40.46, while rival Rio Tinto rose 46 cents to $71.50.

Gold producers were mixed, with Newcrest Mining down six cents at $32.72, and the company it is seeking to take over, Lihir Gold, was steady at $4.06.

Spot gold in Sydney was trading at $1,168.20 per fine ounce, up $4.25 on Wednesday's close of $1,163.95 per ounce. Overall the materials and resources sectors both finished in the black. Financials also finished slightly up, despite a mixed performance by the big banks.

Commonwealth Bank was up 41 cents at $53.01 and Westpac rose 10 cents to $24.25 but National Australia Bank declined one cent to $25.33 and ANZ fell four cents to $23.19.

Macquarie finished down 47 cents at $38.39. Major energy stocks were weaker, with Woodside Petroleum down 44 cents at $41.72 and Oil Search losing nine cents to $5.88. Santos dropped 24 cents to $13.57 while Origin Energy edged down one cent at $15.63.

News Corp fell 21 cents at $16.41 while its non-voting scrip reversed 11 cents at $14.57. Fairfax was steady at $1.485c and Consolidated Media rose three cents at $3.13.

Flat Asian stock markets left the Australian dollar floundering Thursday, rising only slightly through the trading day, with crucial Chinese manufacturing data Sunday the next major test of market confidence. General U.S. dollar weakness and cross-related demand helped to put some support under the Aussie dollar.

Government bonds closed slightly lower after failing to extend Wednesday's vigorous rally which was sparked by news inflation in the second quarter was much slower than market expectations, removing the risk of a further rise in interest rates at the Reserve Bank of Australia's next policy meeting on Tuesday.

The Australian dollar was quoted at $0.8975, up from $0.8958 late Wednesday. Against the Japanese yen, the Australian dollar was at 78.345 down from 78.74.