Australian shares fell on Wednesday, retreating from a record high scaled in the previous session, as losses in financials outweighed gains in mining and gold stocks.
The S&P/ASX 200 index slid as much as 0.3% to 8,352.5, as of 2334 GMT.
The benchmark index hit an all-time high on Tuesday, led by financials in broad-based buying. Interest rate-sensitive financials reversed the previous session’s gains to slip 0.4%.
The country’s so called “big four” banks fell between 0.1% and 0.8%.
Miners rose as much as 0.8% and were on track for a fourth straight session of gains, after iron ore prices closed higher overnight as Chinese steelmakers started restocking to maintain production in January.
Gold stocks jumped as much as 1.3% to hit their highest level since Nov. 11, as mounting Russia-Ukraine tensions sparked a rush for safe-haven assets and bolstered bullion prices.
Resolute Mining and Predictive Discovery rose more than 5% each and topped gains on both the mining and gold sub-indexes.
Gold and energy stocks lead Australian shares higher; RBA minutes in focus
Among other sectors, tech stocks slipped as much as 1% and healthcare-focused firms skidded 0.5%.
Among individual stocks, Amcor’s Australia-listed shares slipped as much as 3.2% after the company disclosed plans to buy US peer Berry Global for $8.43 billion in an all-stock deal.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index slipped 0.4% to 12,764.
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