Australia: Shares fall on increasing coronavirus curbs

[BENGALURU] Australian shares fell on Tuesday, with energy stocks and banks leading losses, hurt by increasing Covid-19 restrictions across the country to contain the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.

The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.6 per ent to 7264.5 by 0047 GMT. The benchmark closed flat on Monday.

Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei fell 0.7 per cemt, and S&P 500 E-minis futures were down 0.11 per cent.

Five of Australia's eight states and territories have been hit by outbreaks of the Delta variant, with around 80 per cent of the population under some form of restrictions.

The country on Monday decided to make vaccinations mandatory for high-risk aged-care workers and employees in quarantine hotels.

Energy stocks lost 1.4 per cent, as oil prices fell 2 per cent to a one-week low overnight due to a spike in Covid-19 cases in Asia and Europe.

Woodside Petroleum slipped 1.5 per cent, and Oil Search fell 2 per cent to its lowest level since June 2.

Heavyweight financials, dropped 0.7 per cent weighed by losses in the "Big Four" banks.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, National Australia Bank Westpac Banking Corp fell between 0.5 per cent and 0.7 per cent. Miners fell 0.9 per cent pressured by heavyweights Rio Tinto and BHP Group falling 1.3 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively.

Technology stocks were among the few gainers on the index in early trading, taking their cue from a strong session in the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index on Wall Street.

Buy-now-pay-later giant Afterpay rose 1.5 per cent and software provider Nuix Ltd climbed 2.27 per cent New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.2 per cent to 12,628.59. Pushpay Holdings was the top gainer on the bourse.

REUTERS