Australia: Shares slide on rising Covid-19 cases; tech stocks drag

[BENGALURU] Australian stocks slid on Tuesday as rising Covid-19 cases in the state of Victoria dented sentiment, with investors eyeing a rate decision by the country's central bank later in the day.

The benchmark ASX 200 index shed 0.4 per cent to 7,135.2 by 0012 GMT, having closed 0.2 per cent lower on Monday.

Australia's second-most populous state Victoria added nine new local Covid-19 cases on Tuesday after state authorities called the situation "incredibly serious".

The focus now shifts to the Reserve Bank of Australia's policy review meeting, where it is expected to hold rates at record low for a sixth straight time.

Among sectors, tech stocks were the worst hit, losing over 1 per cent in their biggest one-day fall in nearly two weeks. Buy-now-pay-later giant Afterpay shed 2.3 per cent.

Financials eased 0.6 per cent with the "big four" banks losing between 0.4 per cent and 0.7 per cent.

Gold stocks followed suit, declining 0.6 per cent even as prices were on course for their biggest monthly jump since July 2020.

Gold miners Newcrest Mining and Northern Star Resources Ltd shed 0.4 per cent and 0.9 per cent, respectively.

However, heavyweight mining stocks were up nearly 1 per cent, hitting their highest level in nearly two weeks, as iron ore futures surged.

Mining titans Rio Tinto and BHP Group added 1.3 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile, Nine Entertainment jumped 4 per cent to be among the top gainers on the benchmark after announcing multi-year content-supply deals with Google and Facebook.

Across the Tasman sea, New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index was largely unchanged, trading down 0.1 per cent to 12,308.3.

Freight gateway operator Port of Tauranga was the top loser on the bourse, shedding about 2 per cent.

In other markets, Japan's Nikkei was up 0.02 per cent at 28,866.14 and S&P 500 E-minis futures were down 3.5 points, or 0.08 per cent.

REUTERS