Australian shares fall on virus fears; miners, tech stocks drop

Australian shares fell on Thursday, on mounting concerns that the Delta coronavirus variant may derail a global economic recovery, with declines in mining and technology stocks contributing to most of the losses.

The benchmark ASX 200 index slid 0.7% to 7,463.00 by 0020 GMT, with most sub-indexes trading lower.

New COVID-19 cases rose for the first time in three days in New South Wales, denting investor sentiment and pushing authorities to further speed up their vaccination program.

Most major indices in the US also ended lower overnight, spooked by their own worries about the Delta variant and that the Federal Reserve may pull back from its accommodative stance.

Back home, miners were the biggest losers, declining 1.4% to hit their lowest in five months.

Mining majors Rio Tinto, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals fell around 1% each.

Tech stocks shed over 1.2%, tracking the tech-heavy Nasdaq's lower close.

Gold stocks fell nearly 1% to mark their lowest level since March 10, with Dacian Gold Ltd, down 4.8%, to be the top loser on the sub-index.

Banking stocks lost 0.8% with the so-called "Big Four" banks also trading in the red.

The energy index followed suit, declining 0.7%, with index major Santos Ltd, losing 1.5%.

Across the Tasman sea, New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index fell 0.1% to 13,172.4, with top loser Precinct Properties New Zealand Ltd down 2.6%.

A number of banks in New Zealand were hit by a cyber attack on Wednesday, with Australia and New Zealand Banking Corp being one of the affected.

In other markets, Japan's Nikkei was down 0.5%, while the S&P E-mini futures were down 0.1%.