* ASX 200 extends losses after RBA minutes

* Gold miners shine amid heavy losses on Aussie bourse

* Cenbank opted against case for another rate hike in September - RBA minutes

Sept 19 (Reuters) - Australian shares ended lower on Tuesday, as the minutes of the central bank's latest policy meeting signalled that there would be more interest rate hikes after keeping it unchanged earlier this month.

The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.5% to close at 7,196.60.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) once again considered case for a 25 basis point increase before deciding on a pause, showed minutes of the central bank's Sept. 5 meeting. Its board, however, noted that further tightening would be needed if inflation remains persistent.

There's still some unease around where inflation sits for the RBA, particularly around productivity and wages, said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG Australia.

"We could see a rate hike before year-end. That would just be fine tuning of monetary policy and to help ensure that inflation does return to target within a reasonable time frame".

In offshore markets, traders brace for a host of central bank rate decisions, including those by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan.

In Sydney, rate-sensitive financial stocks fell 0.4%, with the 'Big Four' banks down between 0.5% and 0.9%.

Heavyweight miners shed 0.8%, extending Monday's declines due to softer iron ore prices.

Rio Tinto dropped 0.7%, BHP Group ended 1.4% lower.

Bucking the trend, gold stocks inched 1.3% higher on firmer bullion prices, as caution prevailed ahead of rate decisions by major central banks.

The country's largest gold miner Newcrest Mining soared 1.4%. U.S.-based Newmont Corp on Monday received more regulatory approvals to proceed with its proposed A$26.2 billion ($16.86 billion) Newcrest acquisition.

Shares of miner New Hope Corp rose 2.1% to hit a 7-month high after reporting a nearly 11% rise in its fiscal 2023 profit.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.5% at 11,344.52. (Reporting by Poonam Behura in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)