Australian shares closed lower on Wednesday as investors stayed away from risky bets ahead of the corporate earnings season, while a spike in domestic COVID-19 cases continued to bruise risk sentiment.
The S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> was down 0.6% at 6,001.3 points at the close of trade.
Crucial earnings filings by top lenders such as Commonwealth Bank <CBA.AX> and National Australia Bank <NAB.AX>, and energy giants AGL Energy <AGL.AX> and Woodside Petroleum <WPL.AX>, are slated to come in starting this week.
"We've been through a 'confession season' with more than half of the top companies having pushed guidance down or withdrawn it altogether ... as a result we are going in blind into this earnings season," said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets.
"The (virus-related) numbers from Victoria today were quite high again, another reason to be cautious."
Victoria, the country's second-most populous state, reported a record rise in fresh COVID-19 cases and deaths on Wednesday, even as it prepared to close much of its economy to control a second wave of infection.
Adding to the market's uncertainty, leading economies United States and China said they would review the implementation of their Phase 1 trade deal in a video-conference on Aug. 15.
"The tension in that (Sino-U.S.) relationship has been growing for the past few weeks, and with the two largest economies at loggerheads the rest of the world is unlikely to go well," McCarthy added.
Financials <.AXFJ> dropped 0.8%, with three of the 'Big Four' banks falling in the range of 0.3% to 1.3%.
The sub-index for healthcare stocks <.AXHJ> receded more than a percent, with heavyweight CSL Ltd <CSL.AX> losing 1.8%.
Industrial stocks <.AXIJ> were down 1.5%, dragged by losses among the likes of Transurban Group <TCL.AX> and Sydney Airport Holdings <SYD.AX>, down 1.4% and 2.3%.
Bucking the tepid trend, gold stocks <.AXGD> surged about 3%, as prices of the underlying yellow metal scaled an all-time peak, helped by bets for more stimulus measures against the pandemic-ravaged global economy. [GOL/]
The country's largest independent gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd <NCM.AX> jumped 2.9%.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index <.NZ50> ended 0.1% lower at 11,757.7 points, hurt by financial and healthcare stocks.
(Reporting by Soumyajit Saha in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
