Australia shares fall on second-wave coronavirus fears; NZ flat

Investore Property

14/07/2020 02:55

* Whitehaven Coal top gainer with 12% jump
    * Afterpay among top pct losers
    * All major sub-indexes down for day 

    By Arundhati Dutta
    July 14 (Reuters) - Australian shares fell on Tuesday as a
growing number of new coronavirus cases in the country's most
populous state fanned fears of a second wave of infections.
    The S&P/ASX 200 index  .AXJO  fell 0.9% to 5,924.6 by 1236
GMT, erasing most of Monday's 1% gain.
    New South Wales reported on Monday 14 new cases of COVID-19
at a pub used by freight drivers, right on the heels of a surge
in infections in the neighbouring Victoria state, which went
back into lockdown last week.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2EK12G
    All major sub-indexes were down for the day, with technology
 stocks  .AXIJ  leading the decline. The tech sub-index dropped
2.7%, tracking a fall in U.S. peers led by titans including
Amazon  AMZN.O  and Microsoft  MSFT.O . 
    Buy-now-pay-later firm Afterpay Ltd  APT.AX  was among the
top percentage losers on the benchmark index with a drop of
almost 5%. 
    The gold sub-index  .AXGD  fell 2.5%, led by a 6.3% drop in
Dacian Gold Ltd  DCN.AX , while Alacer Gold Corp  AQG.AX  lost
5.6%.  GOL/ 
    Among top performers, Whitehaven Coal  WHC.AX  jumped about
12%, making it the biggest percentage gainer on the benchmark,
after the company posted a 29% jump in quarterly coal
production.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2EK41R
    Whitehaven Coal shares were also the most heavily traded by
volume, with more than 6 million shares changing hands, about
six times the 30-day average.
    In other news, Westpac Banking Corp  WBC.AX , Australia's
second-largest lender, named Michael Rowland as its chief
financial officer, six months after facing a major
money-laundering scandal. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2EK3R9
    Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50
index  .NZ50  inched up 0.03% to 11,438.36.
    The top percentage loser on the benchmark index was Pushpay
Holdings  PPH.NZ  with a drop of 9%, while the top gainer was
Investore Property  IPL.NZ , up 3.2%.

 (Reporting by Arundhati Dutta in Bengaluru; Editing by
Subhranshu Sahu)
 ((Arundhati.dutta@thomsonreuters.com))
 
((For more information on DIARIES & DATA:
 U.S. earnings diary   RESF/US   
 Wall Street Week Ahead    .N/O 
 Global Economy Week Ahead  DATA/ 
................................................................
For latest top breaking news across all markets           NEWS1 ))