Australian shares inched lower on Wednesday, on track to lose for a third consecutive session as heavyweight miners partially offset strong performances in financials, while investors await a key domestic growth data due later in the day.
The S&P/ASX 200 index edged 0.1% lower to 7,718.0 points by 2335 GMT.
The benchmark ended 0.2% lower on Tuesday. Data on the country’s fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) will offer investors clues on the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) upcoming policy decision on March 19.
In the recent monetary policy statement, the RBA said it expects GDP to grow by 1.5% on a year-on-year basis and by 0.3% on a quarter-on-quarter basis for the last quarter of the year.
“While GDP may come in roughly around the RBA’s expectations, recent monthly CPI and labour market data have increased the risk that the RBA could ease sooner than our November expectation,” ANZ analysts said in a note.
On the bourse, miners were the biggest drag with a nearly 1% slump.
Shares of BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue lost 0.6%, 1.2% and 0.2%, respectively.
Tracking Wall Street peers lower, Australian technology stocks fell 1.6% to snap an 11-day winning streak. Wisetech Global lost 1.6% and Xero shed 0.7%.
Australia shares inch lower as miners weigh; GDP data in focus
Bucking the sombre trend, rate-sensitive financials added 0.6%.
The “Big Four” banks advanced between 0.4% and 0.8% respectively.
Shares of ANZ Group scaled to 2-1/2-year high after the bank said it will sell 16.5% interest in Malaysian lender AMMB Holdings for about 2.10 billion ringgit ($443.69 million).
Gold stocks were poised for their fifth straight session of gains, if trend holds, as bullion surged to a record high. Shares of Northern Star Resources added 0.5%, while Evolution Mining climbed 1.3%.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index dropped 0.4% or 42.28 points to 11,710.74.
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