News: XMM Australian shares end lower pressured by miners, hawkish central bank

	  Benchmark closes at over 1-week low 

	  Miners continue to weigh on benchmark, down 1.3% 

	  RBA keeps cash rate unchanged 

	  Q4 retail sales volumes tick higher 

	  NZ market closed for holiday 

Australian shares fell on Tuesday, weighed by sharp declines in miners on concerns over bleak China demand outlook, while the country's central bank warned further interest rate hikes could not be ruled out.

The S&P/ASX 200 benchmark index (xjo) closed 0.6% lower at 7,581.6 points, its lowest since Jan. 29.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) kept its cash rate unchanged at 4.35% as widely expected, but struck a hawkish tone in cautioning that a further rate hike could not be ruled out given inflation remained high.

"It is possible that we could see no rate cuts this year if service inflation stays strong and events in the Red Sea push costs up," said Henry Jennings, senior analyst at Marcus Today, adding that it was "slight negative" for equities.

Futures 0#YIB: now see a 36% probability of a rate cut in June, and 76% in August. A quarter-point cut was not fully priced in until September.

Analysts at ANZ Group wrote they "continue to favour November for the start of the easing cycle", but added that risks around earlier easing have risen.

Earlier in the day, fourth-quarter retail sales data showed a marginal growth as high mortgage repayments and declining real incomes cut into spending power.

Miners .AXMM were the biggest losers on the benchmark, declining 1.3% to a two-week low, with BHP Group (BHP) , Rio Tinto (RIO) and Fortescue (FMG) shedding 1.1%, 0.6% and 2.9% respectively.

Iron ore prices have been on the downtrend, undermined by a bleak demand outlook in top consumer China.

Real estate sector .AXRE dropped 0.9%, with Mirvac Group (MGR) sliding 0.9% and Dexus (DXS) losing 1.3%.

Financials .AXFJ declined 0.4%, with three of the "Big Four" banks losing between 0.4% and 1%. ANZ Group (ANZ) ended the day 0.8% higher.

The equity market in New Zealand (nz50) was closed for Waitangi Day.