Oct 26 (Reuters) - Australian shares slumped on Thursday, hit by a drop in Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd ANZ.AX after its annual net profit came in slightly lower than estimates, with weakness in miners also dragging on the index.
ANZ, the country's No. 3 lender, said its statutory net profit rose 12 percent to A$6.41 billion ($4.93 billion), just below the A$6.87 billion average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
ANZ shares slipped as much as 2.4 percent after the results, the biggest daily percentage drop in nearly 11 weeks, and its lowest price in more than two weeks.
"The result adds to our conviction that ANZ is missing the margin sweet spot in Australian banking, while institutional margins and revenues remain under pressure," Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) said in a note.
Other "Big Four" banks followed suit, falling between 0.5 percent and 0.6 percent. The financial index .AXFJ posted its biggest daily drop in more than three weeks.
On Wednesday, the Australian dollar sank to its lowest since mid-July after a surprisingly subdued domestic inflation reading further diminished the chance of an increase in interest rates anytime soon, stifling banks' ability to raise their margins. S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO fell 15.6 points, or 0.3 percent, to 5,890 at 0115 GMT. The benchmark rose 0.1 percent on Wednesday.
"There are negative leads from global markets, and we have also heard from a number of companies today - their quarterly reports and their annual general meetings," said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets.
"Their outlook statements and results have had a slightly negative impact (on the market)." GLOB/MKTS
Miners steepened the slide on the index, with BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) BHP.AX falling to its lowest in nearly a week on soft iron ore prices. IRONORE/
Fortescue Metals Group Ltd FMG.AX , the world's fourth-largest producer of iron ore, logged its biggest single-day percentage fall in nearly six weeks with a 3.8 percent drop, after reporting only a slight rise in iron ore shipments. Airways QAN.AX plunged 7.2 percent to a three-week low early on after saying it expected slower revenue growth, but the shares later trimmed losses to trade down 1.9 percent. Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 fell 23.74 points, or 0.3 percent, to 8,098.93 at 0115 GMT.
Construction firm Fletcher Building FBU.NZ slid 2.1 percent, weighing most on the index, closely followed by Spark New Zealand Ltd SPK.NZ . The telco fell 1.2 percent to its lowest in almost two weeks.
Statistics New Zealand said the country experienced a monthly trade deficit of NZ$1.143 billion in September, with the annual deficit at NZ$2.91 billion. = 1.2990 Australian dollars)