Australia: Shares fall on dashed hopes for fresh stimulus; New Zealand gains

[BENGALURU] Australian shares ended lower on Tuesday after the Treasury said it was not working on any new stimulus packages at the moment, while the country readied to relax some restrictions amid a decline in coronavirus cases.

The S&P/ASX 200 index ended 0.2 per cent lower to close at 5313.1. The benchmark rose 1.5 per cent on Monday.

Market participants were disappointed by the lack of new stimulus measures even as the underlying economic conditions remained dire, said Henry Jennings, senior analyst at Marcus Today.

Measures of Australian business and consumer sentiment suffered their steepest falls on record in March, while the central bank governor has predicted unemployment to be around 10 per cent by June.

The sub-index for energy stocks lost about 1.4 per cent as oil prices dived on dwindling storage capacity and dismal demand.

Oil explorers Santos and Oil Search ended 1.9 per cent and 1.6 per cent lower, respectively.

Healthcare stocks also slipped, with benchmark heavyweight CSL falling 1.6 per cent after rising for two consecutive sessions.

Gold stocks fell, with heavyweight Newcrest Mining down 2 per cent, as gold prices fell in the face of easing coronavirus related restrictions in some countries.

Australia's second-largest bank Westpac Banking Corp closed nearly 3 per cent higher despite saying it would write down more than A$3.67 billion (S$3.37 billion) in its first-half results due to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, New Zealand's benchmark index rose 3.3 per cent to end at its highest close in over a week, as trading resumed following a holiday on Monday.

REUTERS