Australian shares continue to fall on the back of the mining slump, Woodside falls on CEO's surprise departure
The Australian share market was set to record a fourth consecutive day of losses, led by the miners. Meanwhile, energy stocks fell as Woodside Energy dropped after it announced its departure.
As of 2322 GMT, the S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.2% at 8,567.70. The benchmark closed Wednesday 0.2% lower.
Woodside Energy's stock fell as much as 2,6%, its lowest level for nearly two months, after the Australian firm announced that Chief Executive Officer Meg O'Neill will be joining BP as executive director.
The sub-index for energy fell as much as 1.5% and reached its lowest level since October 22.
The sector's majors Rio Tinto & BHP saw their gains in the mining industry stifled by a 0.3% decline for miners.
Financials fell 0.1% for a fourth session in a row, after the Australian government revised its inflation outlook sharply on Wednesday, which reaffirmed the central bank's earlier hawkish stance.
Three of the four "Big Four" bank shares were down between 0.1% to 0.3%.
ANZ has reversed its losses and is now 0.2% higher. This was after Nuno Matos, the new CEO of the lender, decided to give up his short-term bonuses this year. A significant minority of the bank's shareholders voted against the executive pay report.
Local technology stocks followed Wall Street peers lower. They were down 2.1% and set to record losses for the ninth consecutive session.
The Nasdaq, which is dominated by technology companies, closed lower on Tuesday as concerns grew that firms were taking on additional debt to fund artificial-intelligence development.
The only sector that has shown a positive performance is the real estate sector. Dexus and Mirvac are among the companies trading in the green.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX50 index fell 0.2% to 13,275.55, its lowest level since November 21,
The economy of the island nation showed signs of improvement in the third-quarter, after registering a decline in the second quarter.
(source: Reuters)
