News: XEJ Australia shares end lower as financials slide on NAB warning

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Australian shares ended lower in choppy trading on Tuesday as National Australia Bank's (NAB) warning on margins spurred a selloff in the financial sector and offset gains in mining stocks.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) ended the session down 0.24% at 7,434.2, after having lost 0.06% on Monday.

Bank stocks .AXFJ that comprise about a third of the index fell 1%, as NAB (NAB) lost 0.8% after flagging continued pressure on lending margins in fiscal 2022 despite topping annual profit estimates.

That caused the other three major Australian banks to fall between 1.2% and 1.6%.

"NAB's bumper cash profit has failed to impress investors, who are possibly giving more weightage to the bank's expectations for FY22," said Kunal Sawhney, CEO of equity research firm Kalkine Group.

Last week, rival Westpac Banking Corp (WBC) also fueled investor anxiety after revealing it had to take a big margin hit in order to grow its mortgage business.

Energy stocks .AXEJ slid 1% as sector heavyweights Woodside Petroleum (WPL) and Santos (STO) fell 1.2% and 1.3%, respectively.

The country's miners .AXMM , however, rose 1.4% to mark their steepest climb in more than three weeks on strong copper prices, which were buoyed by the passage of a $1 trillion infrastructure bill in the United States.

BHP Group (BHP) , which has the largest copper exposure among the country's top miners, added 1%. Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) firmed 1.8%, while iron ore miner Rio Tinto (RIO) lost 0.2% as the commodity's price fell.

Newcrest Mining (NCM) , Australia's biggest listed gold producer, declined 1.6% after floating plans to buy Pretium Resources PVG.TO in a deal valuing the Canadian miner at $2.80 billion.

Other gold stocks .AXGD climbed 0.7% as bullion prices scaled a two-month high, bolstered by a retreat in the U.S. dollar and persistent inflation concerns.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) reversed early losses to end 0.38% higher at 13,090.58.