Australian shares extend falls on cenbank policy woes; GDP in focus

Australian shares extended losses on Wednesday after its central bank crushed hopes of a pause in monetary policy tightening and flagged further rate hikes, with investors eyeing the third-quarter GDP data due later in the day.

The S&P/ASX 200 index XJO fell 0.7% by 2338 GMT. The benchmark fell 0.5% on Tuesday.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) raised interest rate by 25 basis points to a 10-year high of 3.1% and stuck with its projection of further rate hikes to cool inflation.

Investors' now await the third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data, with analysts expecting a growth of 0.7% in the quarter before the country's current account fell into deficit for the first time in three years.

Local energy stocks XEJ slipped 1.8% and were among the top losers on the benchmark. Oil and gas majors Woodside Energy WDS and Beach Energy BPT slid 2% and 6.2%, respectively.

Separately, Santos STO fell 0.3% even as it targeted higher shareholder returns and announced a further $350 million increase in share buyback.

Tech stocks XXIJ lost 2%, tracking losses of its Wall Street peers as skittish investors fretted over Federal Reserve rate hikes and further talk of a looming recession.

ASX-listed shares of Block Inc SQ dropped 2.8%, while network-as-a-service provider, Megaport MP1, slid 4.4% and was among the top losers on the sub-index.

Financials XFJ gave up 1.4% with the so called "Big Four" lenders losing more than 1% each.

Gold stocks XGD fell 0.6% even as bullion prices firmed slightly. The country's largest gold miner Newcrest Mining gave up 0.6%.

Bucking the trend, miners XXMM advanced 0.8% with iron ore behemoths BHP BHP and Rio Tinto RIO jumping 1.3% and 2.8% respectively.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index NZ50G fell by 0.4% to 11,583.79 points.