Australian shares ease

Australian shares slid to a 3-1/2-month low on Wednesday as falling commodity prices pushed down mining and energy stocks. Investors looked past a survey showing a measure of Australian consumer sentiment surged in May following this month's interest rate cut and the federal budget. The S&P/ASX 200 index see-sawed between positive and negative territory before closing down 5.2 points or 0.1 percent at 5610.3, its third consecutive day of declines and its lowest since January 30. The benchmark is down more than 3 percent this month.
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index shed 1.4 points or 0.02 percent to finish the session at 5755.8. Investors looked past a survey showing a measure of Australian consumer sentiment surged in May following this month's interest rate cut and the federal budget. "The issue around the ASX is that the banks still continue to slide. Until we see a slowdown in the bank sell-off you're not likely to see a slowdown in the ASX sell-off," said Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG Markets.
"We look pretty underwhelming and very disappointing in terms of where we sit." The banking sector, until recently a stellar performer, has come under pressure on concerns of slowing earnings growth. The big banks including Commonwealth Bank and Westpac were down 0.5 to 0.9 percent, respectively, and have underperformed the benchmark in the past month. Weak iron ore prices pulled major miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto down more than 3 percent, while Fortescue fell 7.4 percent.
Energy-related shares Santos and LNG also slumped about 4.5 percent each after oil prices fell over 3 percent. Bucking the trend, iron ore miner Sundance Resources rose as much as 4.8 percent on higher estimate of ore reserves. New Zealand top two stocks, Fletcher Building and telecommunications provider Spark, led the declines falling 0.7 percent and 0.9 percent respectively.
Property investor Goodman Property Trust was 0.8 percent higher after reporting a 34 percent lift in full year profit. The market's biggest property company Kiwi Property Group , which has been on a trading halt, said it had raised NZ$65 million from selling new shares to existing institutional investors, a 93 percent take up. Its offer to retail shareholders opens on May 21.