Australian shares ended lower on Friday and capped their biggest weekly loss in four months, dragged down by financials, after profit warnings from AMP Ltd and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group rattled market sentiment. The S&P/ASX 200 index fell for a third straight session to close 0.2 percent down at 5,283.8. The index was down 2.7 percent on the week.
The country's biggest retail wealth manager AMP fell 9.1 percent to its lowest in more than two years, after saying it would book $910 million in charges for the current financial year. ANZ fell 1.7 percent to a near two month low after saying it would record one-off charges of A$360 million. New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index closed down 0.2 percent, or 13.31 points, at 6,928.64. The index fell for a fourth consecutive week, down 0.4 percent. Gains in healthcare stocks were negated by losses in materials and consumer discretionary stocks.