* Financials decline more than 1%
* Energy stocks down on weak oil prices
* Lynas gains on Malaysia licence renewal
* NZ benchmark up after 3 days of losses
By Aby Jose Koilparambil
Feb 27 (Reuters) - Australian shares struggled for momentum on Thursday as mounting worries over the global economic impact of a rapidly spreading coronavirus dented risk appetite.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO swung between gains and losses and was down about 0.2% at 6,133.80 by 2355 GMT, after losing 6.3% in the last four sessions.
Concerns about the epidemic grew further after New York authorities said more than 80 people were being monitored for the disease on Long Island, adding to worries over its spread in Europe and the Middle East. all about the uncertainty around the coronavirus and that's eating into the broader sentiment," said Doug Symes, senior client adviser at Novus Capital.
"However, the number of ASX200 stocks gaining today is higher compared with the past three-four sessions and the recovery is mostly concentrated around those who have come out with positive news or earnings reports recently."
Financials .AXFJ , a heavyweight sector in the benchmark, declined more than 1% for the fourth straight session, with the "Big Four" banks trading in the red.
Bank of Queensland BOQ.AX , however, gained as much as 3.2% after the lender announced a five-year strategy.
Energy stocks fell sharply, with the sub-sector index .AXEJ losing about 1.8% after oil prices fell to their lowest in more than a year overnight on demand worries. O/R
Among gainers, Australia-listed shares A2M.AX of New Zealand-based dairy firm a2Milk Co Ltd ATM.NZ jumped more than 9% to a near seven-month high on solid half-year profit growth and strong China demand in the first two months of the year amid the virus outbreak. Corp LYC.AX also gained after Malaysia approved a new three-year licence that allows the Australian miner to operate the only major rare earths processing plant outside of China. the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose after three consecutive sessions of losses. The benchmark was up 0.3% at 11,573.30.
a2Milk Co was the top percentage gainer on the benchmark, while movie software provider Vista Group International Ltd VGL.NZ tacked on more than 4%.