* Gold stocks rise as Newcrest reports profit jump
* Tech stocks fall mirroring Wall Street peers
* Wealth manager AMP falls on buyout withdrawal, profit drop (Updates to close)
By Soumyajit Saha
Feb 11 (Reuters) - Australian shares ended marginally lower on Thursday as gains among gold stocks were pared by losses among tech and industrial stocks, and as investors looked forward to important corporate earnings results slated for next week.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO closed down 0.1% at 6,850.1 points.
Earnings reports from a number of Australian heavyweights, including BHP Group BHP.AX , Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) RIO.AX and National Australia Bank NAB.AX , are scheduled for release next week.
Domestic gold stocks .AXGD jumped 1.7% after the country's top independent gold producer Newcrest Mining NCM.AX said its underlying half-year profit had nearly doubled. of Newcrest ended the session 4% higher, while its smaller peers De Grey Mining DEG.AX and Northern Star NST.AX rose 4.1% and 1.7%, respectively.
Mining stocks .AXMM were also higher, with global miners Rio Tinto RIO.AX and BHP Group BHP.AX gaining 1.1% and 0.9%, respectively.
Tech stocks .AXIJ dropped 2.1%, mirroring their peers on Wall Street which slipped from record levels in the last trading session. .N
Buy-now-pay-later company Afterpay APT.AX was down 2.3%, while machine learning company Appen APX.AX lost 2.4%.
Industrial stocks .AXNJ were also lower, with airport operator Auckland International Airport Ltd AIA.AX and construction services provider CIMIC Group Ltd CIM.AX down 1.4% and 3.3%, respectively.
Meanwhile, wealth manager AMP Ltd AMP.AX was the biggest loser on the benchmark index having dropped as much as 11% after U.S.-based Ares Management ARES.N withdrew its $4.5 billion buyout offer, and as it posted a 32% fall in annual profit. Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 fell 0.5%, hurt by losses among tech and healthcare shares.