By Cecile Lefort and Swati Pandey
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Australian shares slipped to one-month lows on Tuesday as investors fretted about weakness in commodity prices and a possible interest rate hike in December by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO fell 1 percent or 52.39 points to 5,5067.10 by 0149 GMT.
The market has shed nearly 6 percent since late October with banking stocks leading the losses.
Australia's four major lenders - Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) CBA.AX , National Australia Bank NAB.AX (NAB), Australia and New Zealand Banking Corp ANZ.AX and Westpac Banking Group WBC.AX - posted their sixth straight year of record profits, but are preparing for their slowest earnings growth since the global financial crisis.
CBA skidded around 2 percent, while Westpac and NAB fell 1.5 percent. ANZ dipped 0.4 percent.
Property stocks also came under pressure with Westfield WFD.AX and Mirvac Group MGR.AX down more than 2 percent each. Scentre Group SCG.AX and Stockland SGP.AX lost between 1.5 percent and 2.0 percent.
Mining giant BHP Billiton (L:BLT) BHP.AX touched its lowest in six years, with a mining disaster in Brazil further undermining sentiment already shaken by sliding iron ore prices and concerns about Chinese demand.
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New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index .NZ50 slipped 0.5 percent or 31.84 points to 6,016.05, but stayed near a record-high touched on Monday.
Tuesday's drop marked its biggest daily percentage fall since Sept. 29.
Unlike their Australian cousin, New Zealand shares have rallied over 8 percent so far this year and are on track to deliver their fourth straight year of positive returns.
Supply chain logistics company Mainfreight Ltd MFT.NZ , down about 6 percent, was among the top losers on the index after its half-year net profit fell 1.5 percent. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1345YO
Z Energy ZEL.NZ was off nearly 2 percent after the anti-trust regulator said a decision on the petrol retailer's acquisition of Chevron (N:CVX) New Zealand could get delayed due to the complexity of the merger. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nWNBS01LNW
a2 Milk Company ATM.NZ was the most-traded share on the index, up 1.3 percent. (Editing by Richard Pullin)