By Aditya Soni
March 29 (Reuters) - Australian shares were slightly weaker in thin pre-holiday trade on Thursday, as softer iron ore prices weighed on materials stocks and following a see-saw session on Wall Street.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO fell 0.3 percent, or 16.40 points, to 5,773.100 by 0120 GMT, having declined 0.7 percent on Wednesday. The benchmark was on track to post a decline of about 4 percent for the month, its biggest since January 2016.
Australian and New Zealand markets are closed on Friday and Monday for public holidays.
U.S. stocks finished lower in a volatile session on Wednesday, dragged by losses in online retailer Amazon.com AMZN.O which fell after a report showed U.S. President Donald Trump wanted to rein in the company. .N
Investors are trying to minimise their losses ahead of the long weekend, said Christopher Conway of the Australian Stock Report.
A fall in iron ore prices led to weakness in material stocks, especially miners, with the Australian metals and mining index .AXMM declining 1.2 percent to its lowest in more than three months. IRONORE/
Global miner BHP BHP.AX slipped 1.5 percent to its lowest in nearly three-weeks, while its rival Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) Ltd RIO.AX slid 0.8 percent to its lowest since Dec. 20.
Consumer staples were also under pressure, with Australian-listed shares of dairy firm a2 Milk Company Ltd A2M.AX leading the losses.
Nestle NESN.S , the world's biggest packaged food maker, launched a brand of infant formula that uses the protein made popular by a2 Milk Company, The New Zealand Herald reported. [https:// ]
The New Zealand Herald added that Nestle's product is available in China, raising concerns the Swiss group's version could eat into a2 Milk Company's market share there. strong cues from their U.S. counterparts .SPLRCR , Australian real estate stocks .AXRE climbed as much as 1 percent.
Real estate investment trust Dexus DXS.AX firmed 1.6 percent, its biggest intraday percentage gain in more than six-weeks, while Goodman Group GMG.AX , Australia's largest listed property owner, rose 0.8 percent.
Across the Tasman sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 fell 0.6 percent or 50.85 points to 8,337.23, it was on track to lose 0.4 percent for the month.
a2 Milk Company ATM.NZ fell 4.6 percent to an over five-week low, accounting for about half of the losses on the benchmark.