Australia: Shares retreat on rising cases, stimulus worries

[BENGALURU] Australian shares declined on Friday, weighed down by gold and technology stocks, as a steady rise in Covid-19 cases in the state of Victoria and an impasse over the coronavirus stimulus bill in the US unnerved investors.

Markets were jittery after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Democrats and Republicans continue to have differences over how much to spend on the next relief legislation.

Overnight, indexes on Wall Street lost strength after Pelosi's comments but ended higher on the back of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's aggressive new strategy to achieve inflation averaging 2 per cent over time.

The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 1.1 per cent to 6,056.3 by 0130 GMT, as Victoria, the epicentre of the country's latest Covid-19 outbreak reported 113 new cases in the past 24 hours, unchanged from the previous day.

The index was set to drop 0.7 per cent for week in its second consecutive weekly decline.

The gold index fell as much as 3.5 per cent to a near two-month low after bullion prices slumped overnight as US Treasury yields gained on the Fed's new inflation shift.

Top miner Newcrest Mining fell 3.5 per cent, while OceanaGold Corp dropped 6.3 per cent.

Heavyweight mining stocks fell more than 2 per cent, dragged down by gold miners.

Tech stocks skid 3.1 per cent, tracking Wall Street's tech heavy Nasdaq Composite, which ended in the red overnight.

Financials bucked the trend, adding 0.3 per cent as the "big four" banks held their ground.

Elsewhere, Australia's No. 2 electronics retailer Harvey Norman Holdings climbed 4.2 per cent as coronavirus-driven sales in the second half boosted profit.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index eased 0.3 per cent to 12,013.7 after five straight day of gains. For the week, the index rose 1.5 per cent.

Trading in the New Zealand stock exchange was halted for most of the session and started traded only at 0100 GMT as the bourse crashed for a fourth day, due to network connectivity issues relating to two cyberattacks this week.

REUTERS