(Reuters) - Australian shares skidded on Friday as data in China showed the economy of the Pacific nation's biggest trading partner losing further momentum, underlining the risks to global growth from the Sino-U.S. trade dispute.
The S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> fell 1.1 percent to close at 5,602. The benchmark declined 1.4 percent this week, its biggest weekly drop since mid-November, after the index hit a two-year low earlier on Monday.
The gloomy data from China triggered a broad risk-off mode in regional markets, with the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> tumbling 1.4 percent.
China reported sharply weak November retail sales and industrial output growth numbers as demand softened further, heaping pressure on Beijing to defuse its trade dispute with the United States.
China is Australia's biggest trading partner, with its resource-rich economy counting on the Asian giant for a sizable portion of export income and generating jobs at home.
Global miners BHP Group <BHP.AX> and Rio Tinto <RIO.AX>, which are heavily exposed to China, fell as much as 1.4 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively. These losses saw the metal and mining sector turning down as copper prices headed south on China demand worries.
Those same concerns pulled the energy index <.AXEJ> down 1.3 percent, with stocks slipping on lower oil prices, as investors cashed in gains of more than 2 percent made during the previous session. [O/R]
Oil Search was among top percentage losers, ending 2.3 percent lower, followed by Santos Ltd <STO.AX> which also declined about 2 percent and touched its lowest since Nov 26 earlier in the day.
The financial index <.AXFJ> closed the session 1.6 percent lower, in its second week of consecutive losses. The index tumbled 2.3 percent on a weekly basis, its biggest drop in one month.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index <.NZ50> fell 0.8 percent or 70.66 points to finish the session at 8,722.51.
A2 Milk <ATM.NZ> fell 3.4 percent and was among worst performers, along with Fisher and Paykel Healthcare <FPH.NZ> which fell 4.2 percent, to its lowest in over a year.
(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil and Nikhil Subba in Bengaluru; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
