Spurred on by the financials, the S&P-ASX 200 was up nearly 1% to 4901 points.

However, falling prices of oil, gold and base metals took its toll on the resources, with losses outweighing gains.

AIM Resources was the major victim of the day after announcing the Perkoa zinc project in West Africa would be put into immediate care and maintenance, due to declining zinc prices and funding challenges.

The company’s shares lost 31.25% or $1.50 to $3.30.

No doubt zinc explorers and investors will be slightly nervous about the future, as today’s news comes after Teck Cominco and Xstrata Zinc shut down the Lennard Shelf zinc mine earlier this week.

Other zinc plays to suffer included Rox Resources, which shed 22.22% or 2c to 7c, and Union Resources, which dropped 12.5% or 20c to $1.40.

An analyst from Goldman Sachs told Dow Jones Newswires that if China’s GDP was to slow to 8% in 2009, rather than the current forecast of 10%, zinc, nickel and lead prices would be hit the hardest.

"Our analysis suggests that zinc and nickel prices could fall further, implying mine closures, albeit temporarily.”

BHP Billiton weighed the market down after slumping 4.43% or $1.74 to $37.55.

Takeover target Rio Tinto didn’t fare much better shedding 2.83% or $3.44 to close at $118.

Most of the other major players were down, with exceptions including Portman, which had a slight rise of 38c to $17.48, and Aquila Resources, which lifted 6.2% or 75c to $12.85.

Troubled gold miner Beadell Resources lost another 9.52% or 2c to 19c. The shares have been in decline since June 27, when they were trading at 41c, after the company failed to raise enough cash to acquire the Cracow mine in Queensland from Newcrest Mining.

Most iron ore plays were up, with Centrex Metals gaining 10% or 4c to 44c after announcing a resource upgrade for the Wilgerup project in South Australia.

Cougar Metals gained 18.4% or 1.4c to 9c after announcing it had been granted new highly prospective gold tenements in Brazil, while A1 Minerals jumped 18% or 2c to 13c on news it had purchased a gold processing plant for the BrightStar gold project.

Despite reporting a 52% increase in copper production for the June quarter, Kagara shares slipped 7.5% or 26c to $3.20 after Western Areas said Kagara would not be able to access the Lounge Lizard nickel deposit via Western Areas’ Flying Fox mine decline in 2009.