Australian shares closed lower on Wednesday, with heavy selling in financial and energy stocks, as halted COVID-19 vaccine trials and an elusive U.S. coronavirus relief package dented risk appetite.
The S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> slipped 0.3% to 6,179.20 at the close of trade. The benchmark closed 1% higher on Tuesday.
Global markets took cue as major indexes on Wall Street closed the previous session in the red, after COVID-19 vaccine trials were paused by Johnson & Johnson <JNJ.N> due to an unexplained illness in a study participant.
Diminishing hopes for the passage of a U.S. coronavirus relief bill also added to the gloom after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected the $1.8 trillion proposal from the White House.
"It's (U.S. stimulus) become a fairly politically charged event, and I'm not sure that the Democrats are going to give Mr. Trump a free kick and pass anything stimulus wise for the next 20 days," said Damian Rooney, director of equity sales at Argonaut.
The heavyweight financial sector <.AXFJ> stocks finished about 1% lower, with the so-called "Big Four" banks closing in the red.
"Few brokers are starting to look at the banking sector after its big run, so I think there's a few profit takers there," Henry Jennings, a senior analyst and portfolio manager at Marcustoday said.
Energy stocks <.AXEJ> slid 0.9% at close, after oil prices slipped, with Woodside Petroleum <WPL.AX> easing 1.2% and Oil Search losing 1.7%.
Limiting losses, the healthcare sector <.AXHJ> advanced 1.3%, with the help of CSL Ltd's <CSL.AX> 1.4% gain and Sonic Healthcare <SHL.AX> closing 2.3% firmer.
CSL lifted its FY2021 net profit to be between $2.17 bln and $2.27 bln at constant currency, compared with its initial forecast of $2.10 bln to $2.27 bln
Meanwhile, Sonic Healthcare marked its highest close after reporting first-quarter core earnings of A$580 million, up from A$340 million last year.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index <.NZ50> rose 0.72% to yet another closing high of 12,543.61.
Top gainers were Mainfreight Ltd <MFT.NZ>, up 5.77%, followed by EBOS Group Ltd <EBO.NZ>, gaining 3.46%.
(Reporting by Nikhil Subba in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
