SYDNEY/WELLINGTON: Australian shares closed lower on Thursday, with buy-now, pay-later and bank shares leading losses, as likelihood of country’s second-most populous city entering fresh coronavirus lockdown weighed on sentiment.

The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.26% to end at 7,335.9, with only heavyweight gold and iron ore miners in the black.Among the ‘Big Four’ banks, Westpac led losses on the financial sub-index, skidding 1.2%, with the sub-index closing 0.7% lower.

Australia’s biggest lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia fell up to 0.6%, while National Australia Bank plummeted 1.1%.

Buy-now, pay-later firms extended losses to a second session, after a report said Apple Inc planned to enter the space.

Sector leader Afterpay skidded as much as 3.8%, while Z1p Co plunged up to 5.7%.

In contrast, gold miners closed 1.9% higher, as the precious metal firmed overnight after US Federal Reserve Chairman Jeremy Powell signalled “powerful support” for economic recovery, boosting the metal’s appeal as an inflation hedge.

The country’s biggest listed gold miner Newcrest Mining climbed as much as 1.8%, while St Barbara Ltd and Bellevue Gold Ltd jumped up to 5.95% and 4.6%, respectively.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.4% to 12671.2, a day after the country’s central bank announced a halt to its pandemic-induced quantitative easing programme.