* Q1 of 2021 will be very turbulent - analyst
* Tech stocks lead losses, down 1.6%
* Trading volumes about a quarter of 30-day avg (Updates to close)
By Arundhati Dutta
Dec 30 (Reuters) - Australian shares pulled back on Wednesday, closing the last full session of 2020 in the red, as the country's most populous city tightened COVID-19 curbs ahead of New Year's Eve and investors took cues from a weak session on Wall Street.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO ended down 0.27% at 6,682.4, snapping a three-day gain. The benchmark recovered from a session low of 6630.5.
Authorities restricted movement and tightened curbs on gatherings in Sydney, hoping to avoid "super spreader" events during New Year's Eve celebrations, after detecting a fresh cluster in the city this month. the United States, stocks retreated from record highs on Tuesday, as uncertainty loomed over whether the Senate would authorize additional pandemic aid checks. volumes in the Australian markets were about a quarter of their thirty-day average as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of Thursday's half-day session and the long New Year weekend.
Most traders were on holiday and not at their desks. It didn't take much to drive the market up or down - so the initial sell-off was bigger than normal, Brad Smoling, managing director at Smoling Stockbroking said.
Smoling anticipates more volatility heading into 2021, as government stimulus runs its course.
"The first quarter is going to be very turbulent. We're seeing the tell-tale signs with bitcoin and gold and silver starting to move up, " he said.
The top losers were tech stocks .AXIJ , down 1.6%. Buy-now-pay-later firms weighed, with Afterpay APT.AX and Sezzle SZL.AX closing down 3.4% and 4.2%, respectively.
An uptick in oil prices drove the local energy sub-index .AXEJ up 0.4%, with heavyweight Santos STO.AX giving up 0.2%. O/R
Gold stocks .AXGD ended slightly lower despite a rise in spot prices, while financials .AXFJ tracked the broad market sell-off to close down 0.3%.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 closed down 0.2% at 13,217.14.