Aug 22 (Reuters) - Australian shares posted their biggest drop in six weeks on Monday, as commodity stocks dragged the resource-heavy bourse lower due to a slump in gold and iron ore prices.
The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.9% to 7,049 by 0053 GMT, also hitting its lowest level since Aug. 15. It ended 0.02% higher on Friday.
The gold sub-index led losses, dropping 3% to hit its lowest levels since July 28, as a strong U.S. dollar hurt bullion prices.
Gold miners Predictive Discovery and Westgold Resources were the top losers on the sub-index, down 7% and 3.7%, respectively.
Following suit, domestic miners retreated 1.4% and were set for their worst day since Aug. 2, as demand woes in China kept iron ore prices at bay.
Among individual stocks, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals lost more than 1.7%, each.
Interest rate sensitive technology stocks slid 1.9%, tracking their U.S. peers lower after a broad sell-off on Wall Street on Friday led by mega-caps.
Computershare and Technologyone were the top laggards on the sub-index, down 0.6% and 1.1%, respectively.
However, shares of aerial imagery firm Nearmap Ltd jumped 4.6% after it agreed to an A$1.06 billion ($728.86 million) takeover offer from private equity firm Thoma Bravo.
Investors keenly look to U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole central bankers' symposium on Friday for clues on future rate hikes and near-term policy outlook.
Energy stocks slipped 0.3% with the country's biggest fuel supplier Ampol Ltd shedding 0.8%, even as the company said it reported its highest ever half-year profit while setting a record dividend.
Heavyweight financials lost 0.8%, with the country's so-called 'Big Four' banks tumbling between 0.4% and 1%.
Bucking the trend, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index jumped 0.3% to 11,716.99.
($1 = 1.4543 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
