* Investors look for concrete deal on paper - Analyst
* Gold miners down 2.4%, over 4-month closing low
* Financials dragged by Medibank and Bank of Queensland (Updates to close)
By Rashmi Ashok
Nov 6 (Reuters) - Australian shares closed lower on Wednesday, pressured by a drop in gold miners, while investors waited for progress on trade talks between the United States and China.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO shed early gains, to fall 0.6%, or 36.90 points, to 6,660.20 at the close of trade. The benchmark had risen 0.2% on Tuesday.
Washington and Beijing are working to narrow their differences enough to sign a "phase one" trade deal as early as this month, but the venue for signing the deal was not yet finalised. a tentative deal, but until something is put on paper and signed, investors are still going to be a little cautious in buying," said Steven Daghlian, market analyst at CommSec.
"For now, there's a little bit of optimism, but it's not shooting the lights out by any means."
Gold stocks .AXGD plunged 2.4% to hit a four-and-a-half month low after spot prices XAU= tumbled more than 2% overnight amid expectations that the United States might drop tariffs on some Chinese imports.
Newcrest Mining Ltd NCM.AX closed down 2.6%, while Northern Star Resources NST.AX shed 2.4%.
Smaller miners, such as Saracen Mineral Holdings SAR.AX , St Barbara Ltd SBM.AX and Regis Resources RRL.AX fell between 1.4% and 3%.
Daghlian also said that investors were awaiting October trade data out of China on Friday and inflation data a day later. China is Australia's largest trading partner and weakness in Beijing's economy has potential to spill over into trade.
Financial stocks, down 0.2%, were dragged by Medibank Private Ltd's MPL.AX 8.5% fall after the insurer reported it experienced higher-than-expected claims since August, and said it expected the trend to continue into the rest of 2019.
Adding pressure, Bank of Queensland BOQ.AX tumbled 4.3% as the stock traded ex-dividend.
Healthcare stocks .AXHJ fell more than 1%, with heavyweight CSL Ltd CSL.AX dropping 0.9%, while Cochlear Ltd COH.AX lost 1.9%.
U.S.-based medical equipment maker Resmed Inc RMD.AX lost 3.5% as the company's shares traded ex-dividend.
Capping losses in markets, mining giant BHP Group added 1.5%, while manganese and aluminium miner South32 Ltd S32.AX rose 2.7%.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 fell 0.8% or 82.36 points to finish the session at 10,759.18.
Dairy giant a2 Milk Company Ltd ATM.NZ fell 3.6%, while Synlait Milk Ltd SML.NZ slipped 1.6%.