Australian shares dropped 1.1 percent to the lowest close in six days on Thursday as a contraction in China's factory sector weighed on exporters and a profit downgrade and heavily discounted capital raising by surfwear store Billabong hit retailers.
Department store Myer fell 5 percent to a record low of A$1.69. Electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi fell 1.8 percent to A$8.35, its lowest in 3.5 years. "It seems every week there's another downgrade coming through from a retailer," said CommSec analyst Juliette Saly. The materials stock index, made up of Australia's resource companies, fell 1.9 percent after China's factory sector contracted for an eighth straight month in June, according to the HSBC Flash Purchasing Managers Index (PMI).
Along with weaker gold and oil prices, that pushed resource companies such as Newcrest Mining and Santos more than 4 percent lower. Woodside Petroleum fell 2 percent and BHP Billiton sank 1.2 percent. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell 45 points to 4,087.6, according to the latest data, its weakest since June 15. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index fell 1.1 percent to 3,409.4 points.
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