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Australian shares see biggest intraday fall in 5 weeks

Published 08/07/2019, 12:22 pm
Updated 08/07/2019, 12:30 pm
© Reuters.  Australian shares see biggest intraday fall in 5 weeks
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* Aussie shares see sharpest fall in five weeks

* Market focus to shift to Fed chairman's testimony

* Miners, banks lead declines

By Aditya Soni

July 8 (Reuters) - Australian shares saw their worst session in five weeks on Monday as strong U.S. jobs data tempered expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut later this month.

Broad-based losses pushed the S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO about 1% or 63.9 points lower in thin trading to 6,687.4 by 0152 GMT, the biggest intraday decline since June 3.

The benchmark gained 0.5% on Friday.

Expectations for a U.S. monetary policy easing had risen after a raft of weak economic data, but Friday's better than expected non-farm payrolls figures showed that world's largest economy's labour market remained solid. employment report "leaves us comfortable with the view that the Fed will not cut in July and wait until September to deliver the first rate reduction," Bank of America Merrill Lynch (NYSE:BAC) economists said in a note.

Investors will focus later this week on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's semi-annual testimony to Congress on the economy for clues about the direction of central bank policy.

Mining stocks .AXMM weakened to a near three-week low and accounted for most of the losses on the benchmark.

Australia's biggest listed company BHP Group BHP.AX saw its worst day in over a week, while its rival Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) RIO.AX slipped to a two-week low.

Gold miners were also under pressure as bullion fell in the face of a stronger dollar supported by Friday's jobs data. GOL/

Newcrest Mining Ltd NCM.AX dropped 1.4%, while St Barbara Ltd SBM.AX posted its biggest decline in one week.

Financials .AXFJ also sold off, with the country's "Big Four" banks sliding between 0.9% to 1.1%.

Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) joined other brokerages in lowering its outlook for bank margins after the recent rate cut by Reserve Bank of Australia. stocks .AXHJ posted their sharpest fall in over two weeks, with drugmaker CSL Ltd CSL.AX down 1.5%.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 was little changed at 10,619.35.

Losses were concentrated in domestic-listed shares of Westpac Banking Corp WBC.NZ and Australia and New Zealand Group WBC.NZ .

Elsewhere, shares of a2 Milk Company Ltd ATM.NZ rose 1.7% to near a five-week high.

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