Australian shares fell on Friday as financial stocks declined, and were set for their third straight weekly drop, although Insignia Financial soared after receiving raised takeover offers.
The S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 1.1% to 8,008.6 by 2345 GMT.
The benchmark was set for a weekly loss of 2%.
Heavily weighted financials lost 2% and were on track to shed 4.2% this week.
Top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) slumped 2.9%, and smaller Westpac fell 2.2%.
Australian banks have faced criticism for their extremely high valuations, with CBA and the other lending majors trading at a significantly higher price-to-earnings ratios relative to its global peers.
Insignia Financial was an outlier, gaining up to 13.5% after the asset manager received a raised offer of A$3.34 billion ($2.12 billion) from Bain Capital and CC Capital.
Insignia, which manages some A$327 billion ($207.22 billion) in assets, hit its highest since August to be the benchmark’s top gainer as the sweetened A$5 per share bid is higher than the A$4.60 offer it received previously.
Technology stocks lost 1.5%, in line with Wall Street’s overnight decline, as technology-heavy Nasdaq confirmed that it has been in a correction since December.
Banks drag Australian shares lower amid growing trade war worries
Meanwhile, global stocks underwent a volatile trading week amid escalating trade tensions between major economies and significant policy shifts in Europe.
Back in Sydney, Miners slipped 0.3% as commodity prices continued to weigh.
Healthcare and Real Estate stocks were also subject to sell-offs, shedding 0.9% and 1.3% respectively.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index dropped 0.4% to 12,379.33.
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