(Updates to close)
By Soumyajit Saha
Feb 10 (Reuters) - Australian shares ended slightly lower on Monday as investors waited to assess the financial impact of the coronavirus outbreak in China on corporate earnings, set to begin on Tuesday.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO closed 0.1% lower on Monday.
Index heavyweights Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX , healthcare giant CSL Ltd CSL.AX and investment manager Maquarie Group MQG.AX will report earnings this week.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the virus outbreak in mainland China - Australia's largest trading partner - rose to 908 as of Sunday even as workers started trickling back to offices and factories. is a fair amount of minerals and services that go into China from Australia, so everything is on hold," said Mathan Somasundaram, market portfolio strategist at Blue Ocean Equities.
"People are reducing their market exposure in the short term to wait and see what happens in the reporting season."
Losses in the financial sector .AXFJ weighed on the benchmark index, with the "big four" banks closing lower. The top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX fell 0.6%.
Miners .AXMM also added to the losses, with BHP Group BHP.AX and Fortescue Metals Group FMG.AX ending 0.9% and 0.4% down.
Declining oil prices due to oversupply fears hurt energy stocks, with explorers Woodside Petroleum WPL.AX and Oil Search OSH.AX losing 1.2% and 0.9%, respectively.
Safe haven gold stocks .AXGD gained over 2% as the market's uncertainty encouraged risk aversion. Newcrest Mining NCM.AX and Northern Star Resources NST.AX advanced 2.3% and 1.3%, respectively.
Electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi Ltd JBH.AX was the top gainer on the Australian benchmark index after reporting strong first-half results and raising its annual earnings forecast. Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 ended 0.5% lower to finish the session at 11,702.59.
Diary company Synlait Milk SML.NZ lost 2.7%, while builder Fletcher Building Ltd FBU.NZ was down 2.4%.