By Myra P. Saefong
TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Australian shares fell early Tuesday with shares of financials among the bigger decliners, pulling back from gains seen a day earlier as stocks on Wall Street sank. The S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.7% to 4,321.0 in early action. Shares of National Australia Bank Ltd. (AU:NAB 23.70, -0.86, -3.50%) (NAUBF 20.45, -1.90, -8.50%) fell 2.2% and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (AU:ANZ 21.23, -0.67, -3.06%) (ANEWF 23.35, 0.00, 0.00%) and Westpac Banking Corp. (AU:WBC 22.18, -0.98, -4.23%) (WEBNF 18.00, -2.25, -11.11%) each declined 2.6%. Many resources stocks also headed lower as prices for oil and gold fell on Globex. Shares of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (AU:FMG 3.45, -0.27, -7.26%) fell 3%, Santos Ltd. (AU:STO 11.75, -0.54, -4.39%) (STOSF 10.15, +0.40, +4.10%) lost 2.3% and Fox Resources Ltd. (AU:FXR 0.11, 0.00, 0.00%) (FXRSF 0.16, 0.00, 0.00%) was down 4.6%. |
