(Reuters) - Australian shares fell on Thursday, as disappointment over Rio Tinto's earnings pressured materials while bank stocks fell after Commonwealth Bank of Australia was accused of money laundering breaches.
The S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> fell 9.1 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,735.1 at the close of trade. The benchmark fell 0.5 percent on Wednesday.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia <CBA.AX> dipped 0.3 percent. In the first case of its kind against a major bank, the country's biggest mortgage lender was accused by the financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC of contravening money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules.
Rio Tinto <RIO.AX> slipped 2.5 percent after the global miner reported a 152 percent leap in half-year underlying earnings but still missed analyst expectations.
Similarly, Suncorp Group <SUN.AX> reported a rise in annual profit which was slightly below expectations. Shares of the second-largest insurer by market share plunged as much as 7 percent to a three-month low.
Consumer discretionary stocks were among the few sectors in the black with Flight Centre Travel Group <FLT.AX> and Southern Cross Media Group <SXL.AX> among the best performers.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index <.NZ50> rose 5.44 points, or 0.07 percent, to finish the session at 7,753.75.
Consumer discretionary stocks fell the most in New Zealand but specialist outdoor retailer Kathmandu Holdings Ltd <KMD.NZ> was among top percentage gainers in the benchmark, ending 2.9 percent higher, after reporting a rise in annual sales.
(Reporting by Hanna Paul; Editing by Lisa Twaronite & Shri Navaratnam)
