Banking stocks drag Australia shares lower on inflation anxiety

Vista International

17/11/2021 24:11

Nov 17 (Reuters) - Australia shares dipped on Wednesday,
dragged lower by financials with Commonwealth Bank of Australia
leading the losses after the top lender flagged margin pressure,
while resource-related stocks were subdued on weaker commodity
prices.
    The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index  .AXJO  was down 0.2% at
7409.100 points, as of 1121 GMT. The benchmark closed 0.7% lower
on Tuesday.
    Commonwealth Bank of Australia  CBA.AX  dropped 7.6% to mark
its worst session since March 2020 after it signalled that
fierce competition was hurting its margins. The country's
biggest lender lost about A$14 billion in market cap since its
last close on Tuesday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2S7417
    The broader financials index  .AXFJ  shed as much as 2.6% in
its biggest one-day percentage fall in more than six weeks, with
the other three "Big Four" banks also trading in the red amid
broadening inflationary pressures.
    Miners  .AXMM  dropped 0.8% on weaker iron ore and copper
prices, dragged lower by heavyweight miner BHP Group  BHP.AX ,
down over 1%.
    Australian gold stocks  .AXGD  retreated 1.8% to deliver
their worst day in more than two weeks as a firmer greenback
made bullion more expensive for holders of other currencies. 
 GOL/ 
    Gold miner Pantoro Ltd  PNR.AX  fell 4.8% to be the top
percentage loser in the sub-index.
    Bucking the trend, tech stocks  .AXIJ  tracked their U.S.
peers higher to head towards their fourth straight session of
gains, with index major Afterpay Ltd  APT.AX  adding up to 2.4%
to be the top performer.
    All major indexes closed higher on Wall Street after the
U.S. October retail sales data signaled solid consumer health.
 .N 
    Across the Tasman sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50
index  .NZ50  fell 0.2% to 12,881.900 points to hit its lowest
level in nearly three months.
    Software maker Vista Group International Ltd  VGL.NZ  and
Vital Healthcare Property Trust  VHP.NZ  were among the worst
performers on the NZX 50.
    In other markets, the S&P 500 E-minis futures  EScv1  were
up 0.04%.

 (Reporting by Yamini C S; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
 ((Yamini.CS@thomsonreuters.com;))
 
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