Australia shares fall for third day as miners drag on China worries

Nov 10 (Reuters) - Australian shares ended in the red for a third straight session on Wednesday, dragged by mining stocks as iron ore prices plunged due to the Chinese property sector’s worsening liquidity crisis.

The S&P/ASX 200 index ended 0.14% down at 7,423.9, having lost 0.24% on Tuesday.

Asian stock markets were tugged lower by fresh concerns about the solvency of property developers and high factory inflation in China, Australia’s largest trading partner, which also led to a fall in iron ore and copper futures.

That resulted in the Australian metals and mining index shedding 1.9%, with BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue dropping between 1.7% and 2.7% each.

Energy stocks tumbled 1.1% despite strength in crude prices, with Woodside Petroleum leading losses.

“We’ve had a couple of days of gains for resources but it looks to be unwinding a little bit at the moment, and we seem to be taking it in turns with the banks,” said Henry Jennings, senior analyst and portfolio manager at Marcus Today Financial Newsletter.