News: XEJ Banks, miners drag Australian shares down as Wall Street rally ends

	  Financials, mining stocks pull AXJO lower 

	  Benchmark snaps its 2-day winning rally 

	  Investors await US inflation data due Dec. 22 

Australian shares ended lower in broad-based declines on Thursday, with financial and mining stocks leading losses, after Wall Street broke a winning streak that was driven by expectations of U.S. rate cuts next year.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) closed 0.5% lower at 7,504.1 points. The benchmark had climbed 0.7% to hit a 10-month closing high on Wednesday.

U.S. stocks closed lower overnight after an abrupt mid-afternoon nosedive, with all major indices ending over 1% lower.

"Despite this drop, the optimism is still there – markets aggressively pricing in for three Fed cuts in 2024," said Glenn Yin, head of research and analysis at AETOS Capital Group.

Last week, the Federal Reserve signalled it had reached the end of its tightening cycle and opened the door to rate cuts in 2024.

Investors now await the release of U.S. data on core Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) on Friday for more clues on rate-cut timings.

"I think it is healthy to see some pullback in both U.S. and Aussie equities, provided the Red Sea developments are temporary and do not lead to a regional conflict," Yin added.

In Sydney, the financial sub-index .AXFJ led the fall, shedding 0.4%. National Australia Bank (NAB) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) ended 0.2% and 0.4% lower, respectively.

Heavyweight miners .AXMM dropped 0.5%, with BHP Group (BHP) dropping 0.1%.

Battery mineral producer Liontown Resources (LTR) emerged as the top loser on the benchmark index, falling as much as 9% on a legal challenge regarding a royalty deed applied to its tenements at the Kathleen Valley lithium project.

Energy stocks .AXEJ dropped 0.6% as oil prices fell over low demand concerns.

Gold stocks .AXGD fell 0.8% and tech stocks AXIJ retreated 1.4%.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) rose 0.4% to 11,627.99 points.