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By Soumyajit Saha
May 14 (Reuters) - Australian shares closed at their lowest in more than a week on Thursday after data showed that jobs in the country fell the most on record in April, underscoring the economic toll of coronavirus-induced lockdowns.
Employment plunged by 594,300 jobs in April, with the unemployment rate surging to a near 5-year peak of 6.2%, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed. Still, Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned citizens to brace for more bad news. degree of job shedding, likely tepid recovery in growth amid numerous headwinds, and ongoing uncertainty around COVID-19 and the exit strategy will likely keep the labour market weak well into 2021", RBC said in a note to clients.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO ended 1.72% lower at 5,328.7, with nearly all sectors firmly in the red. The index has lost over 20% so far this year, erasing all of the gains it made in 2019, as the country faces its first recession in three decades.
The "big four" banks fell in the range of 2.6% to 3.2% on Thursday, with top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX among the biggest drags after two brokerages cut their price target for the company's stock. UBS warned that "significant additional credit charges look inevitable as the economic slowdown takes hold" for 'major banks'. stocks .AXEJ tumbled nearly 3% to a more than two-week low after global benchmark Brent crude dropped 2.6% overnight. Crude prices, however, clawed back some lost ground on Thursday and were last up 0.72% at $29.40 a barrel. O/R
Woodside Petroleum WPL.AX and Santos Ltd STO.AX fell 3% and 3.4%, respectively.
The broader mining subindex .AXMM also fell. But gold miners .AXGD advanced over 1.5%, supported by doubts over an economic recovery, with Newcrest Mining NCM.AX closing 3.6% higher.
The head of the Federal Reserve warned on Wednesday of an "extended period" of weak economic growth due to the pandemic, while the World Health Organization said the virus may never go away.
Gold XAU= , however, fell 0.01% to $1,715.50 as Fed Chair Jerome Powell also downplayed the possibility of negative U.S. interest rates.
The number of issues on the ASX that advanced were 488 while 1,051 declined.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 ended 0.4% lower as losses in the financial and utilities sectors weighed.
The country unveiled a record NZ$50 billion ($30 billion) spending package to revive an economy hit by the pandemic.