Australia: Shares end lower as miners drag on China power concerns

[BENGALURU] Australian shares ended lower on Tuesday, dragged down by heavyweight miners, as investors weighed the potential impact of a widening power shortage in China.

The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 1.47 per cent to finish the session at 7,275.6 points, wiping out nearly all the gains made last week. The benchmark closed 0.57 per cent higher on Monday.

Australia's top trading partner China is in the grip of a power crunch, which has halted production at several factories, including many that supply components to Apple and Tesla.

That led to major Australian miners falling 2.6 per cent, as iron ore and base metal prices slipped on worries about demand.

The country's big mining triumvirate, BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals, skidded between 2.3 per cent and 5.6 per cent.

Technology stocks fell 2.85 per cent, tracking Wall Street's tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index, which fell 0.52 per cent overnight Heavyweight software as a service firm Xero led losses on the sub-index, falling 6.4 per cent, followed by data centre operator NEXTDC losing 4.8 per cent.

Energy shares were a bright spot, soaring 4.34 per cent to hit over three months high as oil prices extended their rally into a sixth session on Tuesday amid continued concerns over tight supply.

Beach Energy and Oil Search led gains on the sub-index, advancing 10.5 per cent and 7.1 per cent, respectively.

Australian retail sales fell 1.7 per cent in August to A$29.3 billion (S$28.88 billion), but beat market forecasts of a 2.5 per cent slide.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.4 per cent to finish the session at 13174.4 points.

REUTERS