Australian shares slide on rising COVID-19 cases; tech stocks drag
01/06/2021 02:22
June 1 (Reuters) - Australian stocks slid on Tuesday as
rising COVID-19 cases in the state of Victoria dented sentiment,
with investors eyeing a rate decision by the country's central
bank later in the day.
The benchmark ASX 200 index .AXJO shed 0.4% to 7,135.2 by
0012 GMT, having closed 0.2% lower on Monday.
Australia's second-most populous state Victoria added nine
new local COVID-19 cases on Tuesday after state authorities
called the situation "incredibly serious". urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS9N2MY009
The focus now shifts to the Reserve Bank of Australia's
policy review meeting, where it is expected to hold rates at
record low for a sixth straight time. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2NE07A
Among sectors, tech stocks .AXIJ were the worst hit,
losing over 1% in their biggest one-day fall in nearly two
weeks. Buy-now-pay-later giant Afterpay Ltd APT.AX shed 2.3%.
Financials .AXFJ eased 0.6% with the "big four" banks
losing between 0.4% and 0.7%.
Gold stocks .AXGD followed suit, declining 0.6% even as
prices were on course for their biggest monthly jump since July
2020. GOL/
Gold miners Newcrest Mining Ltd NCM.AX and Northern Star
Resources Ltd NST.AX shed 0.4% and 0.9%, respectively.
However, heavyweight mining stocks .AXMM were up nearly
1%, hitting their highest level in nearly two weeks, as iron ore
futures surged. IRONORE/
Mining titans Rio Tinto RIO.AX and BHP Group BHP.AX
added 1.3% and 1.1%, respectively.
Meanwhile, Nine Entertainment Co Holdings NEC.AX jumped 4%
to be among the top gainers on the benchmark after announcing
multi-year content-supply deals with Google GOOGL.O and
Facebook FB.O . urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2NI1XP
Across the Tasman sea, New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index
.NZ50 was largely unchanged, trading down 0.1% to 12,308.3.
Freight gateway operator Port of Tauranga Ltd POT.NZ was
the top loser on the bourse, shedding about 2%.
In other markets, Japan's Nikkei .N225 was up 0.02% at
28,866.14 and S&P 500 E-minis futures EScv1 were down 3.5
points, or 0.08%.
(Reporting by Yamini C S in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
((Yamini.CS@thomsonreuters.com;))
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