News: XFJ Australia shares lower, banks lead declines

Australian shares fell on Tuesday with banks leading declines, while energy shares also weakened despite global oil prices steadying the previous day.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) declined 0.8 percent, or 46.541 points, to 5,701.9 by 0048 GMT.

"There’s across the board selling, albeit, volumes are very light at this stage. We’ll be taking cues from U.S. futures," said Ben Le Brun, a market analyst with Optionsxpress.

Overall, market activity was light due to the lack of cues from U.S. markets, which were closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King Day holiday, and investors globally were cautious over what the new U.S. presidency might bring once Donald Trump is inaugurated on Friday.

Australian bank stocks led declines. The ASX financial index .AXFJ lost 1.2 percent, with the "Big Four" bank, dropping between 1 percent and 1.7 percent.

Energy shares .AXEJ also fell despite oil prices settling up on Monday. [O/R]

"It’s probably just a sentiment thing, there’s a lot of uncertainty in oil price regarding OPEC and U.S. oil producers," Brun said.

Santos Ltd (STO) fell 1.8 percent and Beach Energy (BPT) dropped 3.5 percent.

At the other end of the board, higher gold prices drove the ASX gold index .AXGD up, with Newcrest Mining (NCM) and Northern Star Resources (NST) adding 1.6 percent and 2 percent, respectively. [GOL/]

Meanwhile, the mining index .AXMM touched more than a two year high following a rally in iron ore prices. [IRONORE/]

BHP Billiton (BHP) hit a 1-1/2 year high, while Rio Tinto (RIO) flirted with a 2-year high. [IRONORE/]

Declining issues outnumbered advancing by 3:2 on the overall exchange. <.AD.AX>

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) was 0.2 percent, or 12.67 points, lower at 7062.27.

Healthcare and financials led declines. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp (FPH) fell over 1 percent , while Westpac Banking (WBC) lost 1.5 percent.