News: XGD Australia shares inch lower as caution prevails ahead of US inflation data

May 14 (Reuters) - Australian shares inched lower on Tuesday, dragged by banks, real estate stocks, and miners, while cautious investors globally awaited key economic data from the United States for further policy direction slated to be released this week.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) fell 0.1% to 7,743.8 points by 0029 GMT. The benchmark ended 0.01% higher on Monday.

A slew of data including U.S. core consumer price index, U.S. producer price, and Australian employment is set to be released later in the week, which could provide insight into the central banks' monetary easing policy.

Markets are pricing in around an 80% chance of a rate cut at the Fed's September meeting, with almost 44 basis points (bps) of reductions in total expected in 2024, LSEG data showed.

Financials sub-index .AXFJ led losses on the benchmark by falling 0.2%, with the "big four banks" ending between 0.2% and 0.5% lower.

Rate-sensitive real estate stocks .AXRE followed suit and fell by 0.5%.

Shares of real estate firms Charter Hall Group (CHC) slipped by 1.1% while Goodman Group (GMG) lost 0.5%.

Mining sector .AXMM lost 0.1%, with BHP Group (BHP) dropping 0.4% after making a revised $42.7 billion bid for Anglo American PLC AAL.L .

Gold stocks .AXGD lost 0.9%, with shares of Northern Star Resources (NST) , Genesis Minerals (GMD) , Evolution Mining (EVN) down between 1.2% to 1.7%.

Among other sectors, energy stocks .AXEJ were largely flat with shares of Woodside Energy (WDS) and Santos (STO) down 0.4% and 0.6%, respectively.

Information technology firms .AXIJ lost 0.2%, with shares of Xero (XRO) and ASX-listed shares of Block (SQ2) slipping by 0.8% and 1.9%, respectively.

Meanwhile, the local government will release its annual budget for fiscal 2024 on Tuesday with a second consecutive budget surplus due to strong employment and high commodity prices.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) fell by 0.1% to 11,637.18 points.