News: WBC Australia, NZ shares slip after Westpac profit miss

(Updates to close)

MELBOURNE, May 2 (Reuters) - Australian and New Zealand shares fell on Monday, hurt by the big banks after a rise in bad debts marred no.3 lender Westpac Banking Corp's (WBC) half-year results, but gains in Telstra and miners helped trim the market's losses.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) closed down 9.22 points, or 0.2 percent, at 5,243.00, after being more than 1 percent lower around midday.

In New Zealand, where Westpac and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group were the worst performers, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) fell 28.76 points, or 0.4 percent, to finish at 6,791.82.

Telstra Corp (TLS) closed up 2.8 percent, to its highest since mid-February, after saying it would return at least A$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) to shareholders from the sale of most of its stake in Chinese car sales website Autohome Inc .

Gold miners shone through the day, led by a nearly 10 percent gain in Evolution Mining (EVN).

Top miners BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) initially fell after a Chinese manufacturing survey for April raised doubts about the strength of a pick-up in the economy, but both ended the day up more than 1 percent.

Virgin Australia Holdings (VAH), Australia's No.2 airline, sank 5.7 percent to a two-year low after flagging it expects to report a pre-tax loss in the second-half of this fiscal year and would cut capacity due to a drop in demand.