Australia shares slip as US inflation fears weigh; energy, banking stocks fall most

Australian shares inched lower on Wednesday, with most losses in energy stocks and major banks, tracking an overnight Wall Street sell-off as worries about rising inflation in the United States weighed on risk sentiment.

The S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.09% to 7,090.9 by 0025 GMT.

Wall Street closed lower as rising commodity prices and labour shortages fed fears that despite reassurances from the US Federal Reserve, near-term price spikes could translate into longer-term inflation.

Australian energy stocks skidded 0.74?,% even as oil prices rose amid lingering fears of gasoline shortages after a cyber attack on the US fuel pipeline system.

Sector heavyweight Whitehaven Coal fell 2.87%, followed by Origin Energy Ltd, losing 1.48%.

Financial stocks tumbled 0.54%, with all the 'Big Four' banks in the red, even as the country's biggest lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia almost doubled its third-quarter cash profit.

Suncorp Group and Omni Bridgeway Ltd led losses, slipping 4.37% and 2.82%, respectively.

Building materials firm CSR Ltd jumped as much as 6.3% to a more than 13-year high after posting a higher full-year profit.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 fell 0.2% to 12,613.9.

In other markets, Japan's Nikkei was up 0.36% at 28,711.59, and the S&P 500 E-minis futures were up 0.07%.