Australian shares fall on Omicron worries, drop in energy stocks

Jan 11 (Reuters) – Australian shares fell on Tuesday, with energy and banking indexes leading the decline, as an Omicron-led surge in domestic COVID-19 cases and worries around tighter monetary policies globally weighed on markets.

The benchmark ASX 200 index (.AXJO) slid 0.4% to 7,417.60 points by 2336 GMT.

With Australia’s total tally of infections surpassing one million on Monday — more than of which were in the past week alone — its government has vowed to “push through” the outbreak that has strained hospitals and supply chains. read more

Supermarkets and retailers in the country continued to face persistent supply chain constraints, which have threatened empty shelves for weeks to come.

Retail giants Woolworths and Coles (COL.AX) lost about 1.3% each. Poultry producer Inghams Group (ING.AX) fell to its worst day since March last year, losing as much as 8.5%, after saying its major Australian sites are facing significantly lower levels of staff availability.

The energy index (.AXEJ) was the worst performer on the benchmark, down as far as 1.4%, after oil prices weakened on demand concerns. read more

Heavyweight banking stocks (.AXFJ) dropped nearly 1%, with the “Big Four” banks declining between 0.7% and 1.3%.

Miners (.AXMM) shed 0.8% on weaker commodity prices, with index major Rio Tinto Ltd (RIO.AX) falling 0.3%.

Rio Tinto followed Fortescue Metals (FMG.AX) in buying battery electric trains to transport its iron ore to help its decarbonisation strategy. read more

Tech stocks (.AXIJ) added 0.8%, lifted by buy-now-pay-later giant Afterpay Ltd’s (APT.AX) 2.7% jump.

Gold stocks (.AXGD) shrugged off weak bullion prices to rise over 1% to eye their best day since New Year’s eve.

Gold miner Northern Star Resources Ltd (NST.AX) added 1.8% to head for its biggest one-day jump since Dec. 31, while Evolution Mining Ltd (EVN.AX) climbed 1.5%.

Across the Tasman sea, New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (.NZ50) traded down 0.6% to 12,892.9.

Tourism Holdings Ltd (THL.NZ) was one of the worst performers on the bourse, shedding as much as 2.7% to hit its lowest level in nearly two weeks.

Reporting by Yamini C S; editing by Uttaresh.V

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