Australian shares dragged lower by financials, tech stocks

Altium

20/01/2022 24:20

Jan 20 (Reuters) - Australian shares fell for a third
straight session on Thursday, hurt by financials and tech
sectors following a weak finish overnight on Wall Street, while
resource-related stocks jumped on robust commodity prices.
    The S&P/ASX 200 index  .AXJO  was down 0.3% at 7,332.5
points by 2355 GMT.
    Wall Street's main indexes ended sharply lower, with the
tech-heavy Nasdaq confirming it was in correction territory
after a diverse set of corporate earnings.  .N 
    Local tech stocks  .AXIJ  tracked their U.S. peers lower by
falling over 1% to their lowest since May 21, with software firm
Altium Ltd  ALU.AX  dropping 3.4% to be one of the worst
performers on the bourse.
    Sector heavyweight Afterpay Ltd  APT.AX  was suspended from
trading on the ASX 200 on Jan. 19 after its buyout by Block Inc
 SQ.N  became effective following receipt of all regulatory
approvals.
    Financials  .AXFJ  dropped to their lowest level in nearly a
month, losing over 1%, with major banks Commonwealth Bank of
Australia  CBA.AX  and National Australia Bank Ltd  NAB.AX 
shedding about 1.4% to 1.7%.
    Energy stocks  .AXEJ  also declined 0.8%, with Woodside
Petroleum  WPL.AX  and Santos Ltd  STO.AX  falling 1.7% and
0.6%, respectively, even after the country's top 2 independent
gas producers posted strong quarterly numbers.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2TZ4AY urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2TZ3Y7
    The gold sub-index  .AXGD , however, advanced more than 6%,
headed for its biggest jump since June 2020 after bullion prices
rose on a weaker dollar.  GOL/ 
    Evolution Mining Ltd  EVN.AX  and Northern Star Resources
Ltd  NST.AX  were one of the top gainers on both the ASX 200 and
the gold sub-index, jumping about 9% each.
    Miners  .AXMM  were up 1.1%, with top iron ore miner BHP
Group  BHP.AX  rising about 1.4%.
    Global lithium supplier Vulcan Energy Resources  VUL.AX 
added 1.2% on expecting to be formally admitted to the Frankfurt
Stock Exchange in the first half of February.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nASX89bhvd
    New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index  .NZ50  slid 1.6%
to 12,612.3, with energy retailer Mercury NZ  MCY.AX  leading
losses with its 2.6% fall.
    In other markets, the S&P 500 E-minis futures  EScv1  were
down 7.75 points, or 0.2%.

 (Reporting by Yamini C S in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
 ((Yamini.CS@thomsonreuters.com;))
 
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