Aug 18 (Reuters) - Australian shares slumped on Friday and were on track for their biggest weekly decline since last September, as investors fretted about a struggling Chinese economy and possibility of longer-lasting high interest rates in the U.S.
The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.2% to 7,129.8 by 0030 GMT. The benchmark has dropped 2.8% this week.
Lack of urgent measures from China, Australia's biggest trading partner, to revive its economy weighed on local investor sentiment.
In China's troubled property sector, the world's most heavily indebted property developer China Evergrande filed for protection from creditors in a U.S. bankruptcy court.
Globally, investors grappled with the potential for longer-lasting high rates from the Federal Reserve, with the U.S. central bank's July meeting minutes showing policymakers were divided over the need for more rate hikes.
In Sydney, financial stocks fell 0.4%. For the week, the sub-index has declined 3.6%, set for its worst week since February 2022.
The "big four" banks were down between 0.1% and 1%.
Technology stocks took cues from a weaker Wall Street close overnight, slumping 1.3% and were on track for their worst weekly slump since June.
Xero fell 1.1% and ASX-listed shares of Block slipped 2%.
Bucking the trend, miners jumped almost 1%, tracking higher iron ore prices underpinned by hopes of more policy support from China.
Rio Tinto and BHP Group added 1.3% each.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.7% to 11,560.99. It was set for its worst week since last September.
Shares in Fonterra Co-operative Group posted a record drop, after the dairy firm slashed its forecast for farmgate milk prices for the second time this month.
(Reporting by Poonam Behura in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
