By Soumyajit Saha
June 29 (Reuters) - Australian shares fell on Monday as a continued rise in cases of the novel coronavirus at home and around the world deepened fears of further economic pain.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO fell 1.74% to 5,801.4 in early trade. So far this year, it has shed 11.7%.
Investors were cautious as global cases crossed 10 million, with Australia's second most populous state of Victoria saying it will make COVID-19 tests for returning travellers mandatory after seeing its largest spike in two months on Sunday. individual shares and sectors, financial stocks .AXFJ fell 2.7% as the "big four" banks lost between 2.4% and 3%.
The energy subindex .AXEJ dropped 3.09%, led by Oil Search Ltd OSH.AX , down 4.49%.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures fell 1.9% and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 lost 1.97% as increasing infections sparked doubts about recovery in demand.
Miners .AXMM dropped 1.2%, with heavyweights Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) RIO.AX and BHP Group BHP.AX losing 2.3% and 2.4%, respectively.
Rio Tinto said it reached an agreement with Mongolia to domestically supply power to its Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine. top percentage loser on the .AXJO was Jumbo Interactive Ltd JIN.AX , down 12.09%, after it signed a term sheet with Tabcorp Holdings TAH.AX to amend and extend some existing reseller agreements. number of issues on the ASX that advanced were 323, while 763 declined.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.15%, with medical devices maker Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation FPH.NZ advancing 2.8% on strong results.