Australian shares fell on Monday to their lowest in over a week, as energy stocks dropped after a resurgence of COVID-19 cases across Europe stoked demand fears and hit risk appetite.
The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.5% to 7,357.4 by 0040 GMT.
The energy index fell 2.1%, tracking a sharp fall in oil prices as rising novel coronavirus cases in Europe threatened to slow the economic recovery.
Sector heavyweights Woodside Petroleum , Oil Search and Santos Ltd were down between 2.1% and 3.3%.
Travel stocks slid on worries of more lockdowns in Europe and spiking cases in the United States.
Flight Centre Travel Group , Webjet Ltd , Corporate Travel Management Ltd CTD.AX and carrier Qantas Airways dropped 1.8%-3%.
Financial stocks .AXFJ followed suit, falling over 1.1%, with all the so-called "Big Four" banks down between 0.7% and 1.1%. Gold stocks .AXGD shed 1.8% after bullion prices fell to a one-week low on Friday. GOL/
Gold miner Silver Lake Resources dropped as much as 4.8%, tracking its worst day since September, after acquiring credit facilities provided by BNP Paribas to Harte Gold Corp .
Meanwhile, Nickel Mines jumped to its highest in nearly seven months as it signed a multi-year memorandum of understanding with Shanghai Decent Investment.
AMP Ltd shares jumped as much as 3.5%. The company said AMP Capital will remain as the manager of its Wholesale Office Fund.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was down 0.9% at 12,630.7, with Meridian Energy MEL.NZ hitting over 16-month low on selling its Australian unit for $528 million.
In other markets, the S&P 500 E-minis futures were up 0.07%.
(Reporting by Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
