MELBOURNE, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Australian shares fell 0.6 percent on Thursday as negative market sentiment towards the country's financial sector dragged the index to a six-day low.
The losses were further fuelled after Australia's No.3 lender Westpac Banking Corp (WBC) said on Thursday it expects to see higher defaults in the third quarter.
The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) ended down at 5,508, after it hit 5483.7 points, the weakest since August 5.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) was little changed, ending up 0.06 percent at 7,353.83 after closing down 0.18 percent on Wednesday.
(Melanie burton; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips) (([email protected]))
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