Australian shares extend losses for second straight session

St Barbara

20/12/2024 24:29

Dec 20 (Reuters) - Australian shares extended losses for
the second straight session, dragged down by commodity stocks, a
day after the Federal Reserve signalled fewer interest rate cuts
for next year.
    The S&P/ASX 200 index  .AXJO  was down 1.1% at 8080.9 by
0025 GMT. The benchmark was on track to record its worst week
since mid-April, having lost 2.4% so far. The benchmark fell
1.7% on Thursday.
    The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis
points as expected on Wednesday, while revising its forecast for
2025, cutting the number of projected rate reductions to two
from the four anticipated in September.
    In Sydney, financials sub-index  .AXFJ  dropped by 1.5% for
the day, on track to record its fourth straight week of losses,
with the "Big Four" banks down between 1% and 1.7%.     
    Miners  .AXMM  lost 0.6% on the back of falling iron-ore
prices as concerns about demand prospects in top consumer China
and the U.S. Federal Reserve's outlook for interest rate cuts
next year weighed on sentiment.  IRONORE/ 
    Mining behemoths BHP Group  BHP.AX  and Rio Tinto  RIO.AX 
were down 0.7% and 0.3% respectively. 
    Gold stocks  .AXGD  lost 1.7%, with shares of St Barbara
 SBM.AX  down 2.5%.
    Sub-index leaders Northern Star Resources  NST.AX  and
Evolution Mining  EVN.AX  slipped 1.5% and 2.3% respectively.
    In company news, conglomerate Wesfarmers  WES.AX  said it
would sell its industrial gas supply arm, Coregas, to Japanese
multinational firm Nippon Sanso  4091.T  for A$770 million
($480.33 million). Wesfarmers was down 1.7%. 
    New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index  .NZ50  was flat at
12,753.74.

 (Reporting by Nichiket Sunil in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan
Barona)
 ((Nichiket.Sunil@thomsonreuters.com;))
 
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