Australian shares snap 4-day winning streak as lockdowns, dour earnings weigh

Australian shares snapped a four-session winning run to close lower on Monday, dragged by increasing COVID-19 restrictions and an earnings-led selling in heavyweight blue-chip stocks.

After Friday's record-high finish, the S&P/ASX 200 index ended down 0.6% at 7,582.5 to mark its worst day since July 28.

The country's biggest city Sydney, which is in its eighth week of lockdown, recorded its deadliest day of the pandemic on Monday, while Melbourne extended its restrictions.

"So, the two main states are going to be in lockdown, with economists expecting Q3 to be a negative GDP. It looks like Q4 is going to be affected as well," Deep Data Analytics' CEO Mathan Somasundaram said.

Australian shares set to retreat from record high, NZ rises

Among heavyweights, Beach Energy, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and LendLease Group were the biggest losers on the benchmark.

Oil and gas explorer Beach Energy slipped 10% to its worst level since March 2020 after reporting a 21% drop in its annual profit.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank also shed 10% after Citi flagged a challenging revenue outlook, while construction and property firm LendLease slid about 8% on forecasting a restructuring charge in the first half of fiscal 2022.

The ASX 200 Energy index was the biggest drag on the benchmark index, closing 3.4?% lower as oil prices fell.

Woodside Petroleum Ltd lost 5%.

The ASX 300 Metals and Mining index slipped 1.2%, tracking iron ore and copper prices that fell after data from top metals consumer China showed signs of slowing in its economy.

Alkane Resources Ltd fell 9.2%, while Perenti Global Ltd lost 7.7%.

Bucking the trend, a2 Milk finished 14.8% higher to be on top of the benchmark, buoyed by reports that suitors are circling the company.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.3% to end at 12,720.15.