Australian shares flat as miners offset losses in financials; Star plunges

April 19 (Reuters) - Australian shares struggled for direction on Wednesday as gains in mining and gold stocks countered losses in tech and banking stocks, while casino operator Star Entertainment fell more than 10% after cutting its annual earnings forecast. The S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.03% at 7,362.6, as of 0020 GMT. The benchmark fell 0.3% on Tuesday. Miners were the top gainers, rising 1.5%. Iron ore prices jumped to one-week highs on Tuesday after data showed the Chinese economy grew faster than expected in the first three months of the year. Mining giants BHP Group , Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals jumped between 2.2% and 1.7%. Gold stocks gained 0.8% after bullion prices jumped overnight on the back of a weaker U.S. dollar. Sector majors Newcrest Mining and Northern Star Resources rose 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively.

Financials edged lower, with the "big four" banks except Commonwealth Bank of Australia trading in negative territory. Technology stocks tracked their U.S. peers lower and were last down 0.5%. Block Inc's ASX-listed shares fell 1.3%, while Megaport was down 1.4%.

Energy stocks shed 0.5%, with sector majors Santos and Woodside down 0.4% and 0.9%, respectively. Healthcare and real estate stocks fell 0.3% and 0.8%, respectively.

Among individual stocks, Star Entertainment emerged as the top loser on the benchmark index after it announced job cuts and trimmed its annual earnings forecast. Financial services firm AMP said net cash outflows for its wealth management business were down 30% in the March quarter, while the banking unit's credit quality remained strong. Its shares rose 1.4%. New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.2% to 11,859.7. (Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

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Australian shares flat as miners offset losses in financials; Star plunges

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