* Australia reports new coronavirus cluster in NSW on Sunday
* Energy stocks hurt by dropping oil prices
* Miners fall 2% ahead of reporting production figures
By Soumyajit Saha
Jan 18 (Reuters) - Australian shares opened lower on Monday, hurt by losses among miners and energy stocks as news of a new coronavirus cluster near Sydney soured sentiment, and ahead of important domestic production results later this week.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO fell 0.79% to 6,662.5 points by 0005 GMT. The benchmark closed roughly flat on Friday.
Health authorities said on Sunday they were investigating a mystery COVID case of a man in the Sydney suburb of Berala. All six locally acquired cases registered on Sunday were close contacts of the man. .AXMM was the worst hit sector, losing 2% as heavyweights BHP Group BHP.AX and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) RIO.AX dropped 3% and 2.2% respectively ahead of production reports slated to come in later in the week.
"There seems to be a bit of profit-taking among mining stocks ahead of the large risk event that will be the production results. This is likely driving the movement, along with the broader coronavirus concerns," said Nick Twidale, chief executive officer - head of APAC at First Prudential (LON:PRU) Markets Pty Ltd.
Energy stocks .AXEJ fell 1.9% as oil prices suffered on concerns about Chinese cities entering lockdown due to coronavirus outbreaks. Oil and gas explorers Santos Ltd STO.AX and Oil Search OSH.AX lost 1.9% and 2.3%, respectively. O/R
Meanwhile, Woodside Petroleum Ltd WPL.AX on Monday said the amount of liquefied natural gas (LNG) it supplies to German utility Uniper SE UN01.DE would be doubled under an expanded deal. company's stock was down 1.5%, in line with the broader sector's movement.
Financials .AXFJ were also lower, with the so called "big four" banks falling between 0.4% and 1%.
The number of issues on the ASX that advanced were 527 while 627 declined.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 fell 0.1%, hurt by losses among financial and industrial stocks.