Australia: Shares drop as Victoria records highest Covid-19 daily death toll

[BENGALURU] Australian shares fell on Monday as the country's second-most populous state reported its deadliest day of the Covid-19 pandemic, with financial stocks leading the retreat.

The S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.9 per cent to 6,073.10 by 0108 GMT in its biggest intraday percentage drop since Aug 5. Last week, it gained 2 per cent.

Victoria state, which extended the state of emergency by four more weeks on Sunday, reported its biggest daily death toll on Monday with 25 fatalities and 282 new infections.

Index heavyweight financials dropped 1.7 per cent and led declines on the benchmark. The "Big Four" banks lost between 1.1 per cent and 2.3 per cent.

Among other losers, mid-sized lender Bendigo and Adelaide Bank lost 5.6 per cent and was headed for its worst day in more than two months as its annual profit nearly halved.

Ampol slid 4 per cent after Australia's biggest fuel supplier said it would sell a 49 per cent stake in a convenience stores property trust to Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC and Charter Hall Group for A$682 million.

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Technology stocks fell 1.1 per cent, with EML Payments Ltd and Computershare losing 2.6 per cent and 2.3 per cent, respectively.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index advanced 1.1 per cent to 11,576.15 in its biggest intraday percentage gain since June 25.

Retirement village operator Summerset Group Holdings was the biggest boost to the benchmark, despite a 6 per cent fall in half-year profit.

New Zealand's prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, postponed the country's general election by a month to Oct 19 as the city of Auckland remains in lockdown due to a new outbreak of the coronavirus.

REUTERS