Australian shares closed at their lowest in nearly three weeks on Friday, as investors fled to safer assets amid the inflammatory exchange of words between North Korea and the United States. The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 67.83 points, or 1.2 percent, to 5,693.1 at the close of trade for a weekly loss of 0.5 percent. Tensions in the Korean peninsula escalated further after US President Donald Trump warned North Korea again on Thursday not to strike Guam or US allies, saying his earlier threat to unleash "fire and fury" on Pyongyang if it launched an attack may not have been tough enough.
National Australia Bank fell nearly 1 percent to close at its lowest in a week despite reporting a 5 percent rise in its third-quarter cash profit. Other banks in the "Big Four" followed suit, with Australia's top mortgage lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia slipping 0.7 percent to settle at its lowest in over two months.
Material stocks - vulnerable to heightened risk aversion - bore the brunt of the geopolitical tensions, with miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto slipping 2 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively. New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 70.6 points, or 0.9 percent, to finish the session at 7,719.11, its lowest since July 31. The index finished the week 0.4 percent lower.