Dec 18 (Reuters) - Australian shares appeared poised to mark a fourth consecutive session of losses on Thursday, dragged down by miners, while energy stocks slipped as Woodside Energy fell after announcing its chief's departure.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO was down 0.2% at 8,567.70 points, as of 2322 GMT. The benchmark closed 0.2% lower on Wednesday.
Woodside Energy WDS.AX slumped as much as 2.6% to its lowest level in nearly two months after the Australian company announced the departure of Chief Executive Officer Meg O'Neill, who will be joining as executive head of BP BP.L.
The energy sub-index .AXEJ lost as much as 1.5%, slipping to its lowest point since October 22.
Miners .AXMM lost 0.3%, defying gains in sector majors Rio Tinto RIO.AX and BHP BHP.AX.
Financials .AXFJ dipped 0.1%, marking a fourth consecutive session in the red, after the Australian government's sharp inflation outlook revision on Wednesday reinforced the central bank's hawkish stance earlier this month.
Shares of three of the "Big Four" banks were down between 0.1% and 0.3%.
ANZ ANZ.AX reversed losses to edge 0.2% higher after the lender's new CEO Nuno Matos decided to forgo his short-term bonus this year and as a significant minority of shareholders voted against the bank's executive pay report.
Local technology stocks .AXIJ tracked Wall Street peers lower, down 2.1%, and were set to record losses for a ninth consecutive session.
Tech-heavy Nasdaq closed lower on Wednesday as concerns mounted that technology firms are taking on more debt to fund artificial intelligence development.
The only outlier, the real estate sector .AXRE, advanced 0.6% on Thursday, with Dexus DXS.AX and Mirvac MGR.AX trading in the green.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 edged 0.2% lower to 13,275.55 points, its lowest level since November 21.
The island nation's economy showed early signs of improvement as economy logged a growth in the third quarter, compared with a contraction in the previous quarter.
(Reporting by Keshav Singh Chundawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
((Keshav.SinghChundawat@thomsonreuters.com))