* Energy stocks and minerals provide early benefits
* Afterpay returns from high, closes down 0.8%
* Macquarie group performs better, up 6% after Q3 earnings (Updates to close)
Feb 9 (Reuters) – Australian shares fell in low-level trading on Tuesday, measured by banking stocks, as investors continued to make big bets ahead of key corporate earnings due Later in the week.
The S&P / ASX 200 index set down 0.86% at 6,821.2 points, stopping a two-day gain, with trading volumes at around half the 30-day average in most of the session.
Benefits are expected from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the country’s largest lender on Wednesday, and Newcrest Mining, Australia’s largest gold miner by market cap, and AGL Energy, the the country’s largest energy retailer, reporting results later in the week.
In a clear position, Macquarie Group’s asset manager jumped nearly 7% and was the largest percentage winner on the benchmark after the company reported a third-quarter profit from the units. their trade and commerce suddenly.
But its gains in the broader financial sub-cap which closed 0.7% lower failed. Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and Queensland Bank were among the top slows in the region.
Technical stocks lost 1% after a strong start earlier in the day, as the buy-now-pay-later company Afterpay pulled back from a high and closed down 0.8%.
A Reuters report showed that complaints of identity theft in Australia involving buy-now-pay-per-view finance doubled later to record last year, prompting calls for authorities to resume in the a successful market.
Energy stocks and minerals posted gains accumulated during the session in the last hour of trading and closed down 0.6% and 0.2%, respectively.
In New Zealand, the benchmark ended 1% lower at 12,927.69 points.
Reporting by Arundhati Dutta in Bengaluru; Edited by Amy Caren Daniel