By Soumyajit Saha
June 22 (Reuters) - Australian shares fell on Monday as rising cases of the novel coronavirus in the country and around the world diminished hopes of a quick recovery from a pandemic-induced economic downturn.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO fell 0.82% to 5,893.6 in early trade. The index is down 11.09% so far this year.
Investors turned risk-averse after Australia's second most populous state Victoria extended its state of emergency for four more weeks to July 19 and global COVID-19 cases crossed 8.88 million. sentiment further were views from the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank president, who last week said an economic recovery could take longer than expected, and that fall could potentially bring a second wave of infections. sectors and individual stocks, financials .AXFJ fell over 1%, with all of the "big four" banks trading lower.
The energy subindex .AXEJ fell 1.66%, led by a 3.1% decline in Worley Ltd WOR.AX .
Brent crude LCOc1 futures though rose 0.5%, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 gained 0.1%.
Industrial stocks .AXNJ also dropped, with Transurban Group TCL.AX losing over 2% after announcing a lower distribution for the six months ending June 30. the wider trend, gold stocks .AXGD rose 4.16%, led by Ramelius Resources Ltd RMS.AX that rose 13.97% after the company upgraded its FY20 production outlook. of the yellow metal XAU= rose 0.43% to $1,750.30.
The top percentage gainer on the .AXJO was Austal Ltd ASB.AX , up 11.01% after the U.S. Department of Defence agreed to invest $50 mln in Austal USA. number of issues on the ASX that advanced were 383, while 660 declined.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 fell 0.6% to 11,187.5.
Heavyweight A2 Milk Company Ltd ATM.NZ fell over 4%, after confirming it was in discussions multiple parties in relation to potential strategic options relating to manufacturing capabilities.