AU Evening Wrap: Australia Shares Edge 0.1% Lower, Pare Weekly Gains

$S&P/ASX 200 (.XJO.AU)$ closed 0.1% lower at 7049.4 amid softness in bank and consumer stocks, paring its weekly gains. The benchmark index spent all but a few early minutes of Friday's session in the red, weighed by major lenders and retailers including $Premier Investments Ltd (PMV.AU)$, $Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (HVN.AU)$, $Wesfarmers Ltd (WES.AU)$ and supermarket operators.

Banks $National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB.AU)$, $Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AU)$ and $ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ANZ.AU)$ edged between 0.1% and 0.5% lower.

Supermarket stocks $Coles Group Ltd (COL.AU)$, $Woolworths Group Ltd (WOW.AU)$ and $Metcash Ltd (MTS.AU)$ gave up between 0.6% and 2.1%, while the consumer discretionaries sector fell by 1.1%.

Shares in uranium play $NexGen Energy Ltd (NXG.AU)$ shot up 4.8% to $9.96 after fund manager Jeremy Bond at Terra Capital made it its top pick at the annual Sohn Hearts & Minds conference in Sydney. He said NexGen was poised to become one of the world's "top 10" mining stocks.