By Hanna Paul
July 18 (Reuters) - Australian shares retreated on Tuesday as investors waited to learn what changes are ahead in bank capital rules while the central bank's more upbeat economic outlook, in minutes of its last meeting, failed to add cheer.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO was down 75.37 points, or 1.31 percent, to 5,680.1 at 0305 GMT. The benchmark slipped 0.2 percent on Monday.
Aside from banking stocks, pressure on the index came from
Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) RIO.AX , which fell as much as 1.9 percent after it trimmed its 2017 iron ore guidance 2017 due to bad weather and work to modernise its rail lines. 'Big Four' banks, the quartet that account for more than 80 percent of the country's lending, slid between 1.8 percent to 2 percent. Three of them touched roughly three-week lows while Westpac Banking Corp WBC.AX recorded its biggest intraday slip in over a month.
The benchmark index of financial stocks .AXFJ fell as much as 1.9 percent, to its lowest in nearly four weeks.
There is some caution ahead of release of updated bank capital requirements, said Bill Keenan, general manager of direct equities research at broker Lonsec, noting that the regulator has said the rules will make banks "unquestionably strong".
"We are waiting to see how much more capital they would need and what time period they would have to boost their profiles," Keenan added.
The minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) meeting on July 4 showed optimism about the outlook, citing growth in the labour market, public investment and household consumption. Australian bourse also reflected the lacklustre performance on Wall Street, which ended flat on earnings news. .N
Bucking the trend, gold stocks perked up with Newcrest Mining NCM.AX up 1.3 percent as the yellow metal steadied with a fall in dollar. GOL/
New Zealand's benchmark index S&P/NZX 50 .NZ50 fell 7.73 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,680.1 at 0305 GMT.
The benchmark was pulled down mainly by healthcare stocks with Fisher and Paykel Healthcare Corporation FPH.NZ , down 1.7 percent, leading decliners. Air New Zealand AIR.NZ fell nearly 2 percent.