By Arundhati Dutta
April 30 (Reuters) - Australian shares fell on Friday, dragged by plunging shares of Beach Energy BPT.AX after it said reserves at its oilfields in the country were drying up, with losses in gold stocks also weighing on the benchmark index.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO dropped 0.6% to 7,042.1 by 0018 GMT, moving away from a 14-month high it hit on Thursday.
Beach Energy Ltd BPT.AX was the top percentage loser with a drop of over 20%. The oil and gas producer downgraded its annual production forecast and said it would review its reserves at Western Flank after output declined there. also dragged the energy sub-index .AXEJ 1.3% lower despite oil prices rising overnight. O/R
Keeping losses in check were shares of top percentage gainer Mesoblast MSB.AX , as they jumped nearly 9% after trial data showed the company's drug reduced mortality in COVID-19 patients under the age of 65. of Beach Energy and Mesoblast were the most-heavily traded by volume.
Gold stocks .AXGD fell 2% after the bullion dropped overnight on rising U.S. Treasury yields. Leading the losses was West African Resources Ltd WAF.AX , down 4.6%, followed by Ora Banda Mining Ltd OBM.AX , dropping 4.3% GOL/
Financial stocks .AXFJ slid 0.4%. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group ANZ.AX lost 0.3% after it warned of a profit hit in the first-half from its exposure to Malaysia's 1MBD scandal. stocks .AXIJ fell 0.9% and miners .AXMM lost 1.3%.
In other markets, Japan's Nikkei .N225 was down 0.5% at 28920.3, while S&P 500 E-minis futures EScv1 fell 8.25 points, or 0.2%.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 fell 0.08% to 12,704.7.