Australian shares fall

Australian shares dropped 1.2 percent on Wednesday, led by another slide in Chinese equity markets, as well as energy and banking stocks, while New Zealand ended flat. The S&P/ASX 200 index closed down 60.2 points at 4,946.40, but was well off a two-year trough of 4,803.9 touched last week. New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index nudged down by just 0.21 points to finish the session at 6141.94.
The downturn in oil drove WorleyParsons down 8.3 percent. Oil Search fell nearly 5 percent after it reported a 10 percent drop in quarterly revenue due to lower oil and gas prices. Origin Energy skidded 4.6 percent, pulling closer to a 11-year trough touched last week. Financial stocks also came under pressure, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ANZ Banking Group and National Australia Bank all down more than 1 percent. Mining stocks edged lower, with BHP Billiton down 0.3 percent, while Rio Tinto shed 1.2 percent, not far from its weakest since 2009. Fortescue Metals skidded 3.2 percent.