Local stocks moved backwards in afternoon trade, as futures markets suggested a negative night on Wall Street due to investor jitters over the outcome of the G20 summit. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) eased by 31.5pts or 0.7pct on close to 4778.8 despite trading relatively unchanged in early trade.

The National Australia Bank (NAB) announced in late trade it would be lifting its standard variable home loan rate by 43 basis points effective Monday. NAB shares fell 3.5pct or 90c to $24.53, the lender also paying out a 78c dividend to shareholders today Westpac (WBC) lifted its rate by 35 basis points to 7.86pct. WBC shares rose 0.1pct to $21.94. Shares in the Bank of Queensland (BOQ) fell 2.5pct to $10.90 after also trading ex-dividend. The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) closed steady at $48.55 while the ANZ (ANZ) was off 2.1pct to $23.22. Shares in Macquarie Group (MQG) closed down 0.1pct to $36.19.

Despite a positive start on the back of firmer metals trade in London, mining giants BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) lost ground in afternoon trade in line with a big drop on China's share market sparked by fears of monetary tightening. Shares in BHP lost 0.7pct to $44.30 while RIO fell 0.6pct to $86.86. Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) rose 0.9pct to $6.86 while gold miner Newcrest (NCM) fell 1.3pct to $42.51.

Energy stocks were mixed as crude oil eased from 25 month highs in Asian trade. Woodside Petroleum (WPL) shares gained 0.8pct to $43.08 while Santos (STO) fell 0.3pct to $13.37. Caltex (CTX) eased by 0.9pct to $12.78.

Telstra (TLS) shares dropped 1.1pct to $2.61.

Qantas (QAN) shares fell 2.4pct to $2.80 with a spokesperson for the airline this afternoon indicating its A380 fleet should be in the air within days, not weeks. Virgin Blue Australia (VBA) eased by 1.1pct to $0.455.

Primary Health Care (PRY) closed higher by 5.6pct to $3.22 despite cutting its earnings guidance. The company also announced a number of job cuts.

The Ten Network (TEN) rose 2pct to $1.53 on news CEO Grant Blackley's contract has been extended for two years.

Retail stocks were mixed. Myer Limited (MYR) reported a fall in Q1 profit but maintained its FY11 guidance. MYR shares fell 0.3pct to $3.88. Harvey Norman (HVN) rose 0.7pct to $3.12 while David Jones (DJS) closed down 0.5pct to $4.45.

Credit card balances rose in September. The average credit card balance stood at a $3,261.60 in September, up $7.90 on August. The average credit card balance is up just 3.7pct on a year earlier, the slowest annual growth in seven months. The number of credit card cash advances in September was down 6pct on a year earlier. Credit card advances have been largely falling in annual terms for around four years. The number of purchases made on debit cards rose by 2.9pct in September to stand 20.7pct higher than a year ago.

The Australian dollar lost ground against all the major currencies and at 4pm AEDT was worth US99.31c, £0.6179 and €72.95c.

On the market overall, a total of 3.06 billion shares were traded, worth $5.5 billion. 486 were up, 660 were down and 356 were unchanged.

At 4.30pm AEDT on the ASX24, the futures market was at 4707, down 35pts.

Ahead tonight, consumer confidence data is released in the US.