Australia shares have fallen on Monday, with ANZ's slump due to a hit to margins also dragging down stocks of other heavyweight lenders.
The ASX 200 was down 0.1 per cent to 7,111, with Magellan (-11.2pc) and Appen (-5.8pc) leading the losses.
Banks dropped as much as 0.4 per cent, with ANZ falling 1.9 per cent after the lender joined Westpac in flagging a hit to margins due to stiff competition in mortgage lending and the central bank's ultra-loose policy settings.
CBA and NAB were down 0.1 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively, while Westpac was up 0.2 per cent.
Travel stocks rallied after the federal government said borders would reopen later this month. Flight Centre (+7.8pc), Corporate Travel Management (+7pc) and Webjet (+6.2pc) were among the best performers.
Casino operator Star Entertainment was up 0.9 per cent at $3.58 after it forecast a first-half loss and said it would need to remediate employees it had underpaid over six years.
Healthcare stocks retreated 1.3 per cent, led by biotech major CSL sliding 1.6 per cent. Sonic Healthcare and Cochlear dropped about 1.1 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively.
By contrast, Graincorp soared 12.3 per cent after the agribusiness firm forecast an at least 70 per cent growth in full-year profit, driven by global demand for Australian grain and oilseeds.
James Hardie, the world's largest fibre cement maker, jumped 2 per cent after hiking its annual profit outlook for the fourth time and setting an even higher forecast for the next year.
Energy stocks gained 1.6 per cent as crude oil prices hit seven-year highs late on Friday on worries about supply disruptions fuelled by frigid US weather and ongoing political turmoil among major world producers.
Brent crude was up, trading at $US93.49 by 4:30pm AEDT.
Woodside Petroleum added 1.9 per cent on Monday, while Santos and Ampol were up 1.6 per cent and 2.6 per cent, respectively.
Technology stocks also remained buoyant and climbed 0.6 per cent, tracking a strong overnight finish on the Nasdaq.
Block rose 3.1 per cent, while local tech names Xero and WiseTech Global added 0.5 per cent and1.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was flat at 70.86 US cents by 4:33pm AEDT.
Nasdaq regains ground after choppy week
Another bumpy ride on Wall Street ended on Friday as Amazon's positive earnings capped a run of mixed big-tech numbers.
Results from megacap growth stocks have dictated market moves this week, as investors seek out tangible data to support sky-high valuations.
Amazon jumped 13.5 per cent after reporting robust earnings in the holiday quarter. The gain expanded its market capitalisation by around $US190 billion, the largest ever single-day increase in value of a US company.
This came a day after Facebook owner Meta's disappointing results shook markets and wiped more than $US200 billion off its valuation, the deepest loss of stock market value in history by a US company.
Despite the earnings-driven whiplash in technology stocks, all three major stock indexes ended their first week of February higher, with the indexes posting their second week of gains in a row.
While Meta lost another 0.3 per cent on Friday, other social media companies which had been dragged down with the Facebook owner rebounded strongly as they posted estimate-beating earnings of their own.
Among them was Snap, surging 58.8 per cent after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter user growth and outlook.
Pinterest also jumped 11.2 per cent after its quarterly revenue beat estimates as retailers splurged on advertising during the holiday quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 21.42 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 35,089.74, the S&P 500 gained 23.09 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 4,500.53 and the Nasdaq Composite added 219.19 points, or 1.58 per cent, to 14,098.01.
Meanwhile, the pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 1.38 per cent and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.77 per cent.
ABC/Reuters
