March 15 (Reuters) - Australian shares slipped on Tuesday,...

March 15 (Reuters) - Australian shares slipped on Tuesday, dragged by sharp losses in miners after a surge in COVID-19 cases in China weighed on iron ore prices, with weak commodity prices pressuring local energy and gold stocks further.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) was down 0.8% at 7,090.7 points by 2340 GMT, retreating from a 1% gain made in the previous session.

"Markets remained in a risk-averse mood amid the continuing war in Ukraine and COVID-19-related lockdowns in China," Westpac analysts said in a note.

Australia on Monday imposed new sanctions on 33 Russian oligarchs and business people over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the overnight Wall Street session ended on a grim note with the tech-heavy Nasdaq index .IXIC leading losses as investors ditched tech and big growth names ahead of expected rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

That dragged the local tech index .AXIJ 1.2%, with Australian shares of Block Inc (SQ2) dropping 5.7%

Miners .AXMM fell 3.8%, leading losses on the index, after steel prices hit two-week lows as surging COVID-19 cases in China — the world's biggest steel producer and metals consumer — fanned worries over the country's growth prospects.

Iron ore behemoth BHP Group (BHP) , Rio Tinto (RIO) and Fortescue Metals (FMG) slid between 3.6% and 5.2%.

Rio Tinto proposed after market closed on Monday to buy 49% of Canada's Turquoise Hill TRQ.TO it does not already own for about $2.7 billion.

Oil and gold prices retreated after diplomatic efforts to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict calmed supply-disruption fears.

Energy stocks .AXEJ slid 2.9%, with heavyweights Woodside Petroleum (WPL) and Santos (STO) down 4.5% and 3.8% respectively.

Gold stocks .AXGD dropped 3.6%, with the country's largest gold miner Newcrest Mining (NCM) falling 2.7%, while St Barbara (SBM) tumbled 4.1%.

Financial stocks .AXFJ bucked the overall negative trend to rise about 1.4% with the big four banks up nearly 1% each.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) pared early losses to climb 0.14% or to 11,821.67 points. Pushpay Holdings (PPH) outperformed with a 6.9% gain after forecasting a higher annual profit.