Australia: Miners drag shares lower; New Zealand falls before election results

[BENGALURU] Australian shares slipped on Friday as weak iron ore prices pressured heavyweight mining stocks, with waning hopes for additional US fiscal stimulus before the presidential election weighing on market sentiment globally.

The S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.3 per cent to 6,193.40 by 0003 GMT, after settling 0.5 per cent higher in the previous session.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index slipped 0.5 per cent ahead of the election results on Saturday.

An opinion poll showed current Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern from the Labour Party is widely expected to beat her main rival, National Party leader Judith Collins, on the back of her success in tackling the novel coronavirus.

In her campaign, Ms Ardern has vowed to encourage environment-friendly solutions to reduce carbon emissions by phasing out coal-fired boilers as climate change is considered a key issue in the election.

Electricity retailers Contact Energy and Meridian Energy were the top losers on the New Zealand index, losing 4.4 per cent and 3.1 per cent, respectively.

In Australia, stocks tracked overnight losses on Wall Street as US President Donald Trump's offer to raise the size of a fiscal stimulus package failed to woo investors, with most believing a deal seemed unlikely before the Nov 3 election.

The Australian metals and mining index fell 0.3 per cent, weighed down by lower iron ore prices.

Global miner Rio Tinto was down 0.5 per cent after reporting a near 5 per cent drop in third-quarter shipments of the steel-making ingredient. Rival BHP Group dipped too.

Healthcare stocks gave up 1 per cent, marking their biggest intraday drop in two weeks, with biotech giant CSL dragging down the sub-index.

Banking stocks were slightly up with the "Big Four" lenders rising between 0.2 per cent and 0.4 per cent.

Auto parts maker GUD Holdings jumped 4 per cent to a near seven-month, making it one of the top gainers on the benchmark, after Citi upgraded the stock on strong quarterly sales.

REUTERS