By Aditya Soni
March 28 (Reuters) - Australian shares slipped in thin trade on Wednesday, as a sharp fall on Wall Street reduced risk appetite and pushed investors to the sidelines.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO fell 0.6 percent or 33.2 points to 5,799.9 by 0114 GMT. The benchmark added 0.7 percent on Tuesday.
All three major U.S. stock indexes slumped on Tuesday, as concerns about regulation of social media and autonomous vehicles led to a sell-off in technology shares. .N
"The negative sentiment we saw around highly valued (U.S.) tech stocks appears to have flown through into trading today," said Michael McCarthy, Chief Market Strategist at brokerage CMC Markets.
The low volumes indicated investors were waiting for further developments on international trade tensions, as well as European and U.S. inflation data, he added.
Mirroring their U.S. counterparts, technology shares were among the worst performing sectors locally.
The Australian information technology index .AXIJ fell as much as 1.7 percent, with online accounting firm Xero Ltd XRO.AX tumbling 2.1 percent to a more than two-week low, while software designer Altium Ltd ALU.AX declined nearly 2.2 percent.
Materials also contributed to the losses, with BHP BHP.AX , the world's biggest miner, down 0.8 percent, while South32 Ltd S32.AX fell 1.5 percent.
Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) Ltd RIO.AX traded 0.4 percent lower. Rio on Tuesday announced the sale of its remaining Australian coal asset to private equity manager EMR Capital and Indonesia's Adaro Energy Tbk ADRO.JK for $2.25 billion. pressure on commodities prices is coming into play in the Australian market today, in paticular falls in copper, oil, and iron ore overnight are weighing on the materials sector and energy sector," said McCarthy.
Woodside Petroleum Ltd WPL.AX , Australia's biggest independent gas and oil producer fell 1.1 percent, while Oil Search Ltd OSH.AX dropped 1.8 percent, its biggest intraday percentage loss in almost four-weeks.
Financial stocks were also under pressure, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX ticking down 0.6 percent, while Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd ANZ.AX fell 0.9 percent to a near one-and-a-half-year low.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 fell about 1.4 percent or 119.89 points to 8,388.23, its lowest in nearly three-weeks.
Consumer staples accounted for nearly half the losses, with dairy firm a2 Milk Company Ltd ATM.NZ slumping 7.2 percent.
Subscription television provider SKY Network Television Ltd SKT.NZ was the biggest percentage loser on the benchmark as it plunged 7.9 percent after announcing that it may lose its Rugby World Cup broadcast bid. Zealand business sentiment deteriorated in March even as firms' outlook for their own activity improved, an ANZ Bank survey showed on Wednesday.