The Australian share market closed lower on Friday on profit-taking following Thursday's rally. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 10.1 points, or 0.21 per cent, at 4,689.0 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was 7.7 points lower, or 0.16 per cent, at 4,758.2 points. On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the December share price index contract was 11 points lower at 4,699 points, with 23,215 contracts traded. The miners were mixed at the close. Rio finished up $1.12, or 1.36 per cent, at $83.20, while BHP Billiton closed down one cent at $41.65 and Fortescue Metals Group ended up three cents at $6.41. Westpac lost 18 cents to $22.93, Commonwealth Bank closed down 10 cents at $51.10, ANZ was 19 cents lower at $23.81 and National Australia Bank was down 19 cents at $25.49. Macquarie ended up 36 cents, or 1.06 per cent, at $34.26.

In market news on Friday, Santos has priced a 300 million euro hybrid note issue to help fund its Gladstone liquefied natural gas (GLNG) project in Queensland. Shares in Santos closed up seven cents at $12.91. Crown director David Gyngell bought 11,500 shares in the company for $100,165, according to a notice released to the Australian Securities Exchange on Friday, as the company chairman, James Packer, paid $201 million to lift his stake by three per cent. Shares in the gambling group ended up one cent at $8.78. In other news, Cockatoo Coal said it has completed a capital raising in which it sought $150.8 million. Shares in Cockatoo closed steady at 53.5 cents. The spot price of gold in Sydney was $1,380.30 per fine ounce, up 90 cents from Thursday's local close of $1,379.40. Gold miner Newcrest Mining was the worst performer on the S&P/ASX 20, finishing down 44 cents, or 1.03 per cent, at $42.08. The most traded stock by volume was Intoll Group, with 158.63 million shares worth $236.46 million changing hands. Shares in Intoll ended steady at $1.49. Preliminary market turnover was 2.4 billion securities worth $4.51 billion, with 536 stocks up, 569 down and 385 unchanged.

The Australian dollar backed away from parity in the Asian session Friday as all eyes shifted to a speech in U.S. trading on monetary policy by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Currency traders said Bernanke is widely expected to confirm that the Fed is on track to introduce a fresh round of quantitative easing at its November policy meeting. Many warned the risk for the Australian dollar is that Bernanke falls short of expectations, a scenario that would likely see the U.S. dollar strengthen and the Australian dollar gap lower. In London trading overnight it stretched to a fresh post float high of $0.9993. The Australian dollar traded at $0.9917, down from $09550 late Thursday, and against the Yen traded at 80.615, down from 80.765.