Tin slumped 6% to $US13,365 per tonne, nickel dropped 4.5% to $14,462/t and copper fell 3.2% to $4710.50/t.

The S&P-ASX 200 closed 0.12% or 4.6 points down to 3763.3, while the All Ordinaries also finished 0.12% or 4.6 points down to 3761.4.

It was a similar story as the rest of this week, with trading being extremely quiet ahead of reporting season.

“I think there will be some negative surprises in the reporting season and there's probably not much reason to get into the market right now," Patersons Securities associate director Tim Breen told Dow Jones Newswires.

The key local economic news of the day was the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ monthly Labour Force figures, which showed a 0.1% rise in unemployment to 5.7%.

While any rise in unemployment is a negative thing, economic commentators were expecting a 0.2% jump and the smaller rise suggests the labour market is stabilising.

"There does appear to be some sign of stabilisation and with a turnaround in some of the leading indicators, such as hiring intentions and job ads starting to play through, more people will be questioning how high the peak in the unemployment rate will be,” Macquarie Research senior analyst Brian Redican told Dow Jones.

While BHP managed a 0.47% rise to $A32.29, rival Rio Tinto fell 1.2% to $47.60.

After trading in the $US920-930 per ounce range this week, Comex gold dived 2.6% to $909/oz, while spot gold was trading at $912.90/oz at 4:30pm EST.

Analysts predict that gold will return to the $900/oz level before increasing again.

"I don't think we'll see physical buyers come in until we are under $900,” Mitsui Bussan Hong Kong director of precious metals Anderson Cheung told Dow Jones.

“It’s just soft right now.”

Despite the drop, Australia’s major gold miners posted gains with Newcrest Mining rising 2.1% or A61c to $29.60 and Lihir Gold adding 1.4% or 4c to $2.86.

Eromanga Uranium jumped 50% or 2.6c to 7.6c on news of a gold anomaly at the Nackara Arc project in South Australia.