Australian shares fall from 5-month high as tech losses weigh

Jan 5 (Reuters) – Australian shares fell on Wednesday, after hitting a near five-month high during the session, as weakness in technology stocks overshadowed gains from financial and mining sectors.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (.AXJO), which rose as much as 0.4%, was down 0.1 at 7580.6 by 0007 GMT. The benchmark had settled 2% higher on Tuesday, the strongest closing level since mid-August.

The technology sub-index (.AXIJ) tracked overnight losses on the Nasdaq (.IXIC) and fell as much as 2.3%, their biggest single-day loss since mid-December.

Buy now, pay later giant Afterpay (APT.AX) dropped as much as 4.9% to hit its lowest since October 2020. EML Payments (EML.AX) and Altium (ALU.AX) were down 1.5% and 1.8%, respectively.

Financials (.AXFJ) rose as much as 0.9% to hit their highest since Nov. 17, driven by the so-called “Big Four” banks.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AX), National Australia Bank (NAB.AX) and Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX) added between 0.5% and 0.9%, while Macquarie Group (MQG.AX) rose as much as 2.5% to hit a record high.

Miners (.AXMM) advanced as much as 0.9%, scaling their highest since August last year, as iron ore prices rose on improved demand prospects in top steel producer China.

Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) and BHP Group (BHP.AX) added 0.4% and 0.7%, respectively, while Sims Ltd jumped 3.3%.

Healthcare stocks (.AXHJ) fell 1.2%, with biotechnology giant CSL Ltd falling 0.8%.

Coal stocks extended gains, as China’s thermal coal futures surged on concerns of supply disruptions after Indonesia, its biggest overseas supplier, banned exports. read more

Whitehaven Coal (WHC.AX) and Yancoal Australia (YAL.AX) rose 1.1% and 1.8%, respectively.

Meanwhile, Australia reported 47,799 new infections on Tueday, up nearly a third from Monday’s number which was also a record. read more

New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (.NZ50), which rose as much as 0.7% to hit its highest since Oct. 26, 2021, pared gains to trade 0.3% higher.

Financials and healthcare stocks were the gainers on the bourse.

Reporting by Harish Sridharan in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V

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