Australia: Shares end the day lower

[SYDNEY] Australian shares fell on Wednesday with commodity stocks weakening the most as global growth concerns hurt risk appetite, although rare earths miners gained on the possibility that Beijing could halt exports of these metals to the United States.

The S&P/ASX 200 index ended 0.7 per cent, or 44.8 points lower, the benchmark's fourth session of decline in five as tensions between the world's two biggest economies show no signs of cooling off.

The main sub-indexes for both the mining and energy sectors closed more than 0.7 per cent lower for the day.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.3 per cent to 10,096.47, with industrials stocks leading the decline.

REUTERS