By Pauline Askin and Charlotte Greenfield
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Australian shares slipped 0.6 percent on Monday with the materials sector feeling the weight of weak commodity prices.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO fell 32.8-points or, 0.6 percent, to 5,169.8 by 0129 GMT. The benchmark fell 0.2 percent on Friday.
Gold, oil and most base metals faced downward pressure on Friday night which was felt in the Australian materials sector on Monday.
"U.S. dollar strength means the commodities sell-off that we saw last night is what is impacting our market today, because we are so commodities heavy. Players like BHP are down 2 percent and Rio Tinto (L:RIO) is not far behind" said Chris Conway, head of research and trading, Australian Stock Report.
"The theme that everyone seems to be playing at the moment is U.S. dollar strength leading into the Federal Reserve decision on December 15/16."
Top miner BHP Billion BHP.AX fell as much as 2.7 percent facing rising bills from a dam disaster in Brazil. IDnL3N13O0SF
Rio Tinto RIO.AX fell 1.64 percent while Newcrest Mining NCM.AX and Fortescue Mining FMG.AX fell 3.0 percent and 2.18 percent respectively.
The major banks edged up slightly with Westpac Bank WBC.AX up 0.6 percent and National Australia Bank NAB.AX and Commonwealth Bank both gaining 0.1 percent each.
Some healthcare shares were in the black with CSL Ltd CSL.AX up 0.35 percent while Ansell ANN.AX rose 1.07 percent.
Technology provider 3D Medical Ltd 3DM.AX rose as much as 3 percent after announcing a reseller agreement . urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N13O0PV (Editing by Sam Holmes)