INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Australia shares closed slightly lower on Tuesday, with advances in defensive stocks offset by losses in the financial and energy sectors,
after investors shrugged off the central bank's July meeting minutes suggesting further policy easing.
The Reserve Bank of Australia said it
would cut interest rates "if needed" at its July policy meeting, where it slashed the cash rate by a quarter point - the second cut in as
many months - taking them to a record low of 1 per cent.
The move highlighted the RBA's urgency to get the country's economy on its feet and
reduce unemployment, and markets had already begun pricing in another 25 basis-point cut before the end of the year.
The S-P/ASX 200 index
ended 0.2 per cent lower at 6,641 points
The benchmark ended down 0.7 per cent on Monday.
The RBA's dovish tone pushed down the yield on Australian debt, which gave a lift to
defensive stocks - often seen as bond proxies.
The local utilities and healthcare sub-indexes each added 0.6 per cent and 0.4 per cent,
respectively.
The mining sector pared gains after Rio Tinto shares reversed course to give up earlier advances, which rode on strong iron
ore prices.
Earlier on Tuesday, Rio Tinto reported a fall in quarterly shipments and flagged a cost blow-out of up to $1.9 billion and a
delay of up to 30 months at its Oyu Tolgoi underground copper mine in Mongolia, a key growth project.
The miner's shares ended 0.6 per cent
lower after gaining as much as 1 per cent
Rio's larger rival BHP Group advanced 0.4 per cent.
On the other hand, the country's biggest banks shedding between 0.04 per cent-0.7 per
cent bruised the main board, while weakness in oil prices for a second consecutive day strained energy shares.
Woodside Petroleum, the
energy sector's biggest constituent by weighting, was off 2.2 per cent on the day.
New Zealand's benchmark S-P/NZX 50 index ended 0.1 per
cent lower at 10,651.20.
Data showed inflation accelerated in the second quarter due to higher fuel and housing costs, but it did little to
change expectations of an interest rate cut this year.
Shares of Auckland International Airport down 2.3 per cent and Fisher - Paykel
Healthcare off 1.8 per cent, were the biggest decliners.