By Rushil Dutta and and Anusha Ravindranath Australian stocks fell for a third straight session on Monday to their lowest in over a month as sentiment was dampened by comments from top U.S. Fed officials raising the possibility of an interest rate hike this year.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO fell 0.4 percent as of 0232 GMT. The benchmark lost 0.5 percent last Friday.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen told a global monetary policy conference last Friday that the case for a rate increase had grown stronger, but she did not indicate when the Fed might hike rates. Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer suggested a move could come at the central bank's September policy meeting if the economy was doing well.
Following Yellen's speech, prices for fed funds futures implied investors see roughly a 60 percent chance of a December hike, up from just above 50 percent on Thursday, while chances of a September hike stood at 36 percent, up from 21 percent. will also look out for U.S. payroll data due later this week that could determine the course of future interest rate hikes.
"What we're seeing at the moment is a little bit of caution that the RBA's rate cutting on table might be deferred if the U.S. raises rates," said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist with Sydney-based CMC Markets.
"That's leading to some pressure on some previously well- favoured areas like consumer staples, utilities and industrials stocks."
Energy and consumer cyclical stocks were the biggest losers on the main index.
Energy stocks took a beating on weakened oil prices as output from Iraq rose. O/R
Oil and gas explorer Woodside Petroleum WPL.AX lost 3 percent, while its peer Oil Search Ltd OSH.AX lost 2.1 percent.
The gold index .AXGD shed 3.8 percent as the yellow metal edged lower on a steady dollar. .DXY
Gold miners Newcrest NCM.AX and Northern Star Resources NST.AX lost 2.9 percent and 3.15 percent respectively.
Mining giants BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) BHP.AX and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) Ltd RIO.AX lost 0.4 percent and 1.3 percent respectively.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 was marginally lower as gains in industrial stocks were offset by losses in financials, with banks Australia and New Zealand Banking Group ANZ.NZ and Westpac Banking Corp WBC.NZ among the worst performers.
Shares of Auckland International Airport AIA.NZ rose 0.28 percent, after it reported a jump in full-year profit and issued upbeat guidance.