* Eyes on Aussie parliament and PM Malcolm Turnbull
* Financials weigh heavily on Aussie benchmark
* Energy stocks gain, Santos jumps on HY results, Quadrant deal
By Aaron Saldanha
Aug 23 (Reuters) - Australian shares slipped on Thursday, as uncertainty over who the country's next prime minister would be rattled investor confidence and losses in financials capped wider gains from resources firms.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's leadership looked doomed on Thursday after three of his senior ministers who backed him in a leadership vote on Tuesday tendered their resignations and called for a repeat vote. country's parliament was adjourned on Thursday to allow for a meeting of the ruling Liberal party, with former home affairs minister Peter Dutton and Treasurer Scott Morrison seen as likely contenders for leadership. The Aussie dollar AUD=D3 was trading more than 0.8 percent lower against the greenback. are seeing elevated sovereign risk in our country, I think it looks like the Prime Minister is going to get knocked off any minute now, so there is definitely sovereign risk here compared with emerging markets," said Mathan Somasundaram, market portfolio strategist at Blue Ocean Equities.
Financials pushed the benchmark S&P ASX 200 index .AXJO down 0.2 percent to 6,256.1 at 0200 GMT on Thursday but a deeper decline was averted by gains in the materials and energy sectors. The benchmark lost 0.3 percent on Wednesday.
Financial stocks .AXFJ were 1.1 percent lower, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX , the nation's largest lender, down 1.2 percent and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd ANZ.AX dipping 1.9 percent.
Blue Ocean Equities' Somasundaram said money parked in Australian financials was being redeployed as trade war fears eased somewhat, sending funds to growth-oriented investments.
Shares of Qantas Airways QAN.AX were down 6.9 percent despite the airline reporting a record annual profit, as it flagged a rise of about A$690 million in its fiscal 2019 fuel bill. sentiment, however, global miner BHP BHP.AX and peer Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) Ltd RIO.AX were 1.4 percent and 0.5 percent higher, respectively.
Australian energy stocks .AXEJ were trading 0.5 percent higher, after oil prices rose 3 percent on Wednesday, after a larger-than-expected draw in crude inventories and as Washington's sanctions on Iran signaled tightening supply. O/R
The sector index's move was helped by gains in stocks such as Santos Ltd STO.AX , which was trading up as much as 10.5 percent after saying first-half underlying profit nearly doubled and reviving its dividend. Wednesday, Santos agreed to buy privately held Quadrant Energy for at least $2.15 billion, grabbing what may be the biggest oil find off Western Australia in over two decades. the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 slipped, as stocks such as Air New Zealand AIR.NZ weighed on the index.
The benchmark was trading 0.1 percent lower at 9,151.58 on Thursday. It rose 0.5 percent on Wednesday.
Air New Zealand was trading down 2.9 percent after a two percent rise in the airline's full year net profit attributable missed analysts' estimates. more individual stocks activity click on STXBZ