(Reuters) - Australian shares settled lower on Tuesday, posting their fourth session of falls in five, with Commonwealth Bank hit by its breaches of anti money-laundering laws, while industrial and material stocks slipped on disappointing earnings.
The S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> fell 29.76 points, or 0.5 percent, to end at 5,743.8. The benchmark rose 0.9 percent on Monday.
Commonwealth Bank <CBA.AX> fell 1.1 percent, dogged by financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC's finding that it breached money-laundering regulations. The bank blamed a "coding error" for its breaches of the rules.
Commonwealth Bank, Australia's biggest lender, scrapped its chief executive's bonus on Tuesday, but said he retains the board's confidence.
Shares of the other "Big Four" banks pared their of some losses. National Australia Bank <NAB.AX> ended flat.
Meanwhile, James Hardie Industries Plc <JHX.AX>, one of the world's biggest makers of fibre-cement building materials, fell 5.8 percent to post its lowest close since April 2016, after reporting a 34 percent drop in quarterly net profit. The stock saw its busiest day of trading since November 2015.
Transurban Group <TCL.AX> closed 1.8 percent lower after missing estimates for annual profit. The toll road developer reported statutory profit from ordinary activities of A$209 million ($165.49 million) for the year, compared with estimates of A$288.48 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index <.NZ50> rose 11.15 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at an all-time high of 7,782.72.
Gains in Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Ltd <FPH.NZ> and Spark New Zealand <SPK.NZ> helped outweigh a 6.1 percent drop in online marketplace provider Trade Me Group <TME.NZ>, putting the index into positive territory.
(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Eric Meijer)
