Australian shares fell on Wednesday, after scaling an all-time high in the previous session, dragged down by financial and real estate stocks, while commodities, backed by strong underlying prices, cushioned the fall.
The S&P/ASX 200 index slipped 0.5% to 8,454 points by 0048 GMT.
The benchmark had closed 0.6% higher on Tuesday.
Australia’s economy grew by less than expected in the third quarter, with the real gross domestic product (GDP) rising 0.3% in the September-quarter, missing market forecasts of 0.4%, data on the day showed.
Annual growth slowed to 0.8%, from 1.0% the previous quarter, levels previously only seen during recessions.
Heavyweight financials lost 0.6%, with National Australia Bank falling 1%. Commonwealth Bank of Australia and ANZ Group lost 0.8% each.
Real estate stocks fell as much as 2.7% in their worst intraday decline in four months.
The sub-index was hit by Goodman Group losing more than 5% after local media reported that the China Investment Corporation was selling A$1.9 billion parcel of the firm’s shares.
Goodman was also the top loser on the benchmark.
Healthcare stocks shed 0.8%, while consumer staples slipped 0.6%.
Australian shares fall as miners offset real estate and healthcare gains
Commodity stocks countered the losses, with the heavily-weighted miners rising as much as 1.1%. Iron ore prices hit a two-month high on Tuesday on additional stimulus bets from China.
Fortescue rallied up to 3.2% to a near one-month high.
Rio Tinto, which formed a joint venture with Japanese miner Sumitomo Metal to develop and operate Western Australia’s Winu copper-gold project, advanced 0.8%.
Gold stocks added 0.7%, while technology stocks advanced 0.6%.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.17%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.05% and 0.40%, respectively.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index dropped 1.3% to 12,926.57 points.
Source: Brecorder
