* Financials and utilities lead declines
* Synlait Milk up 3% on hiking milk price view
* Australian markets closed for public holiday
Jan 26 (Reuters) - New Zealand shares slipped 0.5% on Tuesday, with financials and industrials leading the declines, even as trading remained subdued owing to the closure of equity markets in Australia for a public holiday.
The benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 slipped as much as 0.5% to 13,328.89 by 2230 GMT, its largest intraday decline since Jan. 19, in a low volume session that saw just 3.9 million shares change hands, compared with the 30-day average of 36.2 million shares.
On Monday, New Zealand confirmed its first case of COVID-19 in the community in months, triggering suspension of a travel bubble with Australia for 72 hours and denting investor sentiment. out of nine major sectors in the benchmark traded in the red, with financials losing the most.
New Zealand-listed shares of Westpac Banking Corp WBC.NZ and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group ANZ.NZ were among the top drags, losing 1% each.
In industrials, Auckland International Airport AIA.NZ shed as much as 3.5%, while Air New Zealand AIR.NZ was down more than a percent.
Among gainers, Synlait Milk SML.NZ advanced up to 3%, marking its biggest intraday jump this year after it hiked its milk price forecast for the 2021 season to NZ$7.20 per kilogram of milk solids (kgMS), up from a previous estimate of NZ$6.40 kgMS.