Australian shares slip as financials drag; miners cushion fall
Nov 20 (Reuters) -Australian shares fell on Wednesday, retreating from a record high scaled in the previous session, as losses in financials outweighed gains in mining and gold stocks.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO slid as much as 0.3% to 8,352.5, as of 2334 GMT. The benchmark index hit an all-time high on Tuesday, led by financials in broad-based buying.
Interest rate-sensitive financials .AXFJ reversed the previous session's gains to slip 0.4%. The country's so called "big four" banks fell between 0.1% and 0.8%.
Miners .AXMM rose as much as 0.8% and were on track for a fourth straight session of gains, after iron ore prices closed higher overnight as Chinese steelmakers started restocking to maintain production in January. IRONORE/
Gold stocks .AXGD jumped as much as 1.3% to hit their highest level since Nov. 11, as mounting Russia-Ukraine tensions sparked a rush for safe-haven assets and bolstered bullion prices. GOL/
Resolute Mining RSG.AX and Predictive Discovery PDI.AX rose more than 5% each and topped gains on both the mining and gold sub-indexes.
Among other sectors, tech stocks .AXIJ slipped as much as 1% and healthcare-focused firms .AXHJ skidded 0.5%.
Among individual stocks, Amcor's Australia-listed shares AMC.AX slipped as much as 3.2% after the company disclosed plans to buy U.S. peer Berry Global BERY.N for $8.43 billion in an all-stock deal.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 slipped 0.4% to 12,764.
Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu
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