Australian shares post seven-month closing low on US recession fears

• Australian shares post lowest close since mid-August
• Financials fall for sixth consecutive session
• Tech stocks drop 4%, healthcare stocks down 1.8%

March 11 (Reuters) - Australian shares fell to a seven-month closing low on Tuesday, tracking a broad sell-off across Asian markets after Wall Street slumped overnight on growing worries that U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policies could lead the economy into recession.

The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO closed 0.9% lower at 7,890.10, its lowest since mid-August 2024, after falling as much as 1.8% earlier in the session. It is now down about 8.4% from the all-time high touched on February 14.

The benchmark has slipped further into oversold territory, with the relative strength index down to its lowest since June 2022. The volatility index .AXVI also ended at a four-month peak.

Major Wall Street indexes plunged overnight, with the S&P 500 .SPX shedding 2.7%, while the Nasdaq .IXIC slid 4.0% in its biggest single-day percentage drop since September 2022. .N

Fears of potential economic slowdown grew after Trump declined to predict whether the U.S. could face a recession amid concerns about his tariff actions, saying that "there is a period of transition."

"Historical trend suggests much more downside risk. Unless we see dramatic backflip in U.S. policy setting, we are going to keep sliding as the U.S. economy slides," said Mathan Somasundaram, CEO of Deep Data Analytics.

Financials .AXFJ fell 0.7% to a five-month low in their sixth straight session of losses. Top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX fell 0.8% and Macquarie Group MQG.AX dropped 3.1%.

Somasundaram expects the weakness in banking stocks to continue as "they are extremely expensive and have the highest risk to recession cycle".

Technology stocks .AXIJ dropped 4% to post their lowest close since mid-August 2024, while healthcare stocks .AXHJ fell 1.8% to hit their lowest level in 11 months.

Mining .AXMM and gold stocks .AXGD slipped 0.6% and 3.8%, respectively.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 closed down 0.8% at 12,410.97.

($1 = 1.5967 Australian dollars)