Australia: Shares fall on virus fears; miners, tech stocks drop

[BENGALURU] Australian shares fell on Thursday, on mounting concerns that the Delta coronavirus variant may derail a global economic recovery, with declines in mining and technology stocks contributing to most of the losses.

The benchmark ASX 200 index slid 0.7 per cent to 7,463.00 by 0020 GMT, with most sub-indexes trading lower.

New Covid-19 cases rose for the first time in three days in New South Wales, denting investor sentiment and pushing authorities to further speed up their vaccination programme.

Most major indices in the US also ended lower overnight, spooked by their own worries about the Delta variant and that the Federal Reserve may pull back from its accommodative stance.

Back home, miners were the biggest losers, declining 1.4 per cent to hit their lowest in five months.

Mining majors Rio Tinto, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals fell around 1 per cent each.

Tech stocks shed over 1.2 per cent, tracking the tech-heavy Nasdaq's lower close.

Gold stocks fell nearly 1 per cent to mark their lowest level since March 10, with Dacian Gold Ltd, down 4.8 per cent, to be the top loser on the sub-index.

Banking stocks lost 0.8 per cent with the so-called "Big Four" banks also trading in the red.

The energy index followed suit, declining 0.7 per cent, with index major Santos Ltd, losing 1.5 per cent.

Across the Tasman sea, New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index fell 0.1 per cent to 13,172.4, with top loser Precinct Properties New Zealand Ltd down 2.6 per cent.

A number of banks in New Zealand were hit by a cyber attack on Wednesday, with Australia and New Zealand Banking Corp being one of the affected.

In other markets, Japan's Nikkei was down 0.5 per cent, while the S&P E-mini futures were down 0.1 per cent

REUTERS