Australian shares snapped a five-session rally to end lower on Thursday, dragged by miners as iron ore prices continued to slide on worries over Chinese demand.

The S&P/ASX 200 index slipped 0.8% to close at 6,684.70, after gaining about 3% over the five previous trading days.

Prices of iron ore slumped more than 3% to their lowest in six weeks on Wednesday, after China's top steelmaking city of Tangshan issued a second-level smog alert that requires mills to further limit operations.

Mining behemoths BHP Group and Rio Tinto lost 3.3% and about 3%, respectively, weighing on the benchmark.

The New Zealand benchmark closed 0.3% lower at 11,141.86 with payments platform provider Pushpay Holdings Ltd declining more than 3%.

Copyright Reuters, 2019

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