Australia shares saw broad-based losses on Monday after three sessions of gains as news of U.S. President Donald Trump's travel ban on people from several predominantly Muslim countries put investors on the back foot.
Trump sparked a backlash in the United States and abroad after he put a 120-day hold on allowing refugees into the country, an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria and a 90-day bar on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) fell 1.1 percent to 5,650.2, tracking U.S. equity index futures, which opened down about 0.2 percent on Sunday.
U.S. shares have been soft in the past two consecutive sessions on some unsatisfactory corporate earnings and weaker than expected economic data. [.N]
"We didn't expect to see the market down 1 percent," said Chris Weston, an institutional dealer at IG Markets.
"This suggests that the markets are starting to get a little bit more nervous about Trump's protectionist policies and their potential impact on global trade; not to mention the controversy around the policies and the fact the world seems to be uniting in some sort of condemnation."
Losses were led by basic materials as investors booked profits.
The Australian mining .AXMM and basic materials .AXMJ indexes, which gained 4.4 percent and 4 percent respectively last week, lost more than 1 percent each in early trade.
Mining majors BHP Billiton (BHP), Fortescue Metals (FMG), and Rio Tinto (RIO) fell in a range of 1.3 percent to 1.6 percent, but gold miners remained resilient as gold prices inched up. [GOL/]
Newcrest Mining (NCM), the biggest gold miner by market value rose 0.4 percent after reporting flat gold production for the quarter, although it was 2 percent higher on a continuing operations basis.
Energy shares fell with oil prices weighed down by growing U.S. output. [O/R]
Oil and gas majors Santos Ltd (STO), Oil Search (OSH), and Woodside Petroleum (WPL) lost in a range of 1.1 percent to 1.4 percent.
The biggest percentage loser on the main index, however, was Aconex Ltd (ACX), which plunged 30 percent to an 18-month low after the software services provider cut its full-year outlook.
New Zealand's benchmark index (nz50) fell 0.5 percent, or 37.17 points, to 7097.09.
Loss were broad-based with the exception of consumer staples.
Telecom services, healthcare and financial stocks were the biggest drag on the benchmark with Chorus Ltd (CNU) down 3 percent.
Healthcare stocks Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp (FPH) and Metlifecare (MET), down 2.3 percent and 1.6 percent respectively, also among the biggest losers.
