Australian shares fell on Tuesday, dragged by losses in heavyweight banks and energy stocks, while lender ANZ Group slipped after announcing plans to axe 3,500 jobs next year.
The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.5% to 8,807.10 points by 0025 GMT after falling 0.2% on Monday.
Banks shed 0.6% and was set for second straight loss, with the “Big Four” banks falling between 0.2% and 1.3%.
ANZ, Australia’s fourth-largest by market capitalisation, reversed its earlier gains to trade 0.4% lower after announcing it would shed 3,500 jobs next year and take a A$560 million ($369 million) restructuring charge, in one of the largest rounds of job cuts in the sector in recent years.
Losses in commodity stocks further weighed on the sentiment with miners falling 0.5%, despite a rise in underlying iron ore and copper prices.
Mining giant BHP Group shed as much as 0.9% to hit its lowest level since August 20, after it said it would pay A$110 million to settle an Australian shareholder class action related to the deadly 2015 Fundao tailings dam collapse.
Energy stocks fell 0.8%, hitting its lowest level since July 21, and was headed for its third consecutive session of losses.
Jimmy Tran, dealing manager at Moomoo Australia and New Zealand, said weaker oil prices over the past few days had weighed on energy stocks.
Oil and gas major Woodside Energy fell 0.9%.
Health stocks edged 0.3% lower, while real estate stocks fell 0.7%.
Bucking the trend, gold stocks added 1.2%, driven by higher bullion prices.
Technology stocks rose as much as 0.9% to its highest level since September 1.
The sub-index was on track to log its fourth consecutive session of gains.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was largely unchanged at 13,283.94 points as of 0025 GMT.
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