The S&P/ASX 200 finished 61 points lower at 5294 and the basic materials sector was the worst performer, down 2.1%.

The big miners were both lower, with BHP Billiton down 1.7% to $A35.20 and Rio Tinto down 0.8% to $68.80.

In commodities, the gold spot price was moving slightly higher after recent losses, rising 0.2% to $US1331.91 an ounce.

The Australian dollar was last trading at $US90.2c, down from yesterday’s highs.

Several gold miners notched heavy losses today but it wasn’t all bad news for the sector, with Atlantic Gold up 10.6% to A3.1c.

Red Mountain Mining was also up 11.8% to 1.9c after releasing results from a scoping study on the Batangas project in the Philippines.

Losses came from Potash West, which fell 14.6% to 5.8c despite new metallurgical work increasing the resource at the Dinner Hill deposit near Perth.

Elsewhere, gold-focused Kingsgate Consolidated tumbled 24.3% to 97.5c after announcing a deeply discounted capital raising.

Other losses came from Unity Mining, which was down 10.6% to 2.5c after it announced a drop in March production at the Henty mine in Tasmania.

Millennium Minerals was another poor performer, falling 22.1% to 10.5c as investors digested a number of updates including a revised mining plan, new guidance, a board appointment and another debt facility.

More positive moves came from Kogi Iron, which was up 11.3% to 7.8c, while King River Copper climbed 20% to 6c.

Magnetic Resources also rose 13.8% to 16.5c after releasing positive testwork from its 100%-owned Kauring project east of Perth.