News: XGD Australia shares end lower in muted holiday trade

• Half the states in country observe ANZAC Day holiday
• Gold stocks lead losses on Aussie benchmark
• Miners gain on record iron ore, steel prices

Australian shares fell in holiday-thinned trade on Monday, as investors awaited cues from the biggest week of the U.S. earnings season before making further bets.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) fell 0.21% to 7,045.6 points, with lower-than-usual trading volumes as half the states in the country observed ANZAC Day holiday.

On Wall Street, it is a big week for U.S. earnings, with about 40% of the S&P 500's market cap to report results, with quarterly earnings from tech giants including Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon and Tesla due to be released this week.

"This week's reporting in the U.S. will be closely scrutinised, so this week it will be make or break in the equity market," Brad Smoling, managing director at Smoling Stockbroking, said.

"After Netflix results disappointed last week, investors are on high alert hoping for robust earnings from some of the world's biggest technology companies."

Gold stocks .AXGD tumbled 2.1%, marking their worst day in over a week, even as bullion prices climbed. Australia's biggest gold miner, Newcrest Mining (NCM) and index heavyweight Northern Star Resources (NST) fell 2.9% each.

Technology stocks .AXIJ fell 0.7%, with Nuix Ltd (NXL) down 3.25%, followed by TechnologyOne Ltd (TNE) that lost 1.52%.

In contrast, miners .AXMM edged 0.53% higher and spared the market deeper losses, as Chinese steel futures and benchmark iron ore prices hit all-time highs, fuelled by structural supply shortage.

The country's mining triumvirate - BHP Group (BHP) , Rio Tinto (RIO) and Fortescue (FMG) - gained between 1.4% and 4.5%.

Financial stocks .AXFJ gave up early gains and fell 0.03% at the end of the session. The country's second-largest lender, Westpac Banking Corp (WBC) , shrugged off a warning of a A$282 million ($219.06 million) hit to cash earnings ahead of next week's first-half report.

Markets in New Zealand were closed for the holiday.

($1 = 1.2873 Australian dollars)