News: Australia shares drop, led by financials, NZ flat

• Australia shares fall after 5 days of gains
• AMP, Westpac among top losers on index
• Miners, energy among top gainers
• NZ steadies after touching record on Wednesday

Australian shares ran out of steam on Thursday to drop 0.6 percent after five straight days of gains, with financials weighing down the index following Wall Street's weak lead.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) slipped 0.6 percent, or 31.09 points to 5,340.1 points by 0148 GMT. The index hit a 9-month high on Wednesday before ending at 5,372.30 points.

The S&P/ASX 200 has risen for seven out of the last 10 sessions and is on track for its third straight monthly rise. Despite recent gains, it is up a mere 1 percent so far this year.

"Weak leads from the United States overnight have dampened bullish sentiment at home and abroad," said Tim Nicol, client adviser at Atlantic Pacific Securities.

Nicol also blamed softer-than-expected corporate earnings for Thursday's sell-off.

"It would be no surprise if we see some more downside pressure in the short term."

Financials led the losses on the index with Australia's top wealth manager AMP (AMP) tumbling to a one-month low. It dropped more than 6 percent after posting a near 39 percent fall in first-quarter cashflow at its Australian wealth unit.

No.3 lender Westpac Banking Corp (WBC) was down 4 percent after trading ex-dividend. Other banks were mixed with Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and National Australia Bank (NAB) up 0.5 percent each and ANZ Banking (ANZ) down 0.2 percent.

Energy shares were in the black helped by an overnight bounce in oil prices with Woodside Petroleum (WPL), Origin (ORG) and Santos (STO) up 1.7-3.6 percent.

Gold miners Newcrest Mining (NCM) and Northern Star Resources (NST) were also up.

Major miners BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) rose 0.5 and 1 percent respectively. Fortescue (FMG) jumped nearly 5 percent.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) was largely unchanged on Thursday, inching up 1.84 points to 6,946.18 after hitting a record high on Wednesday.

Investors shrugged off a weak night on Wall Street and were largely treading water with few driving factors.

The index was weighed by a 2.0 percent fall in Xero (XRO) after the company reported another full year net loss.

In the other direction, Sky Network Television (SKT) added 2.2 percent on some bargain-hunting after the stock fell sharply on a downbeat forecast.