Australian shares fall as banking, technology stocks drag

March 29 (Reuters) – Australian shares dropped on Wednesday, dragged by weakness in banking and technology stocks, as investors assessed comments from a top U.S. regulator on the struggling banking system.

The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO fell 0.2% to 7,022.4 points by 0005 GMT. The benchmark closed 1% higher on Tuesday.

Michael Barr, the Federal Reserve’s banking regulator, told a Senate panel that Silicon Valley Bank did a “terrible” job of managing risk before its collapse. Major indexes on Wall Street closed lower overnight. .N

Back in Sydney, financials .AXFJ fell 1.1% to hit their lowest level since last October, with all “Big Four” banks in the red. UBS downgraded price targets and ratings on several Australian lenders, including National Australia Bank NAB.AX and Westpac Banking Corp WBC.AX.

Economic print showed that local inflation rose lower than expected for the month of February.

Australia’s corporate regulator commenced an investigation into ASX Ltd ASX.AX for oversight related to the failed replacement of the bourse operator’s ageing clearing and settlement system. ASX was down 0.6%.

Healthcare .AXHJ and technology stocks .AXIJ added losses to the ASX200, falling 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively.

ASX-listed shares of Block Inc SQ2.AX and Xero XRO.AX fell 0.3% and 1%, respectively.

Commodity stocks lifted the sombre mood. Mining stocks .AXMM gained 1.1% on the back of elevated iron ore prices overnight. BHP Group BHP.AX, Rio Tinto RIO.AX and Fortescue FMG.AX added between 0.3% and 1%.

Across the Tasman sea, shares of Sky Network TV SKT.NZ dropped 1.2% after the media firm said it would slash 170 jobs as a part of a wider restructuring.

New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 fell 0.7% to 11,691.4 points.

(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru)

((Rishav.Chatterjee@thomsonreuters.com;))

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