Australia market slips on weak financials, but Wall St caps losses

* ASX 200 dips 0.5 percent to three-week lows

* ANZ jobs advertisements rise for third month

* 50 stocks higher, 142 stocks lower, 8 stocks unchanged (Adds analysis, quotes, stocks on the move)

By Thuy Ong and Naomi Tajitsu

SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Sep 8 (Reuters) - Australian shares dropped 0.5 percent on Monday to three-week lows as some big-name stocks traded ex-dividend and financials were weak, though an uptick on Wall Street helped to contain losses.

The country's top lender by assets, National Australia Bank , lost 0.7 percent, while Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, the third-biggest bank by market value, declined 0.5 percent.

The S&P/ASX 200 index lost 26.6 points to 5,572.1 by 0306 GMT. The benchmark shed 0.4 percent on Thursday and lost 0.5 percent last week, its second straight week of losses.

A number of stocks traded ex-dividend, undermining the broader market. Insurance Australia Group Ltd dumped 5.6 percent to near one-month lows of A$6.11, blood products maker CSL Ltd (Other OTC: CMXHF - news) lost 1.8 percent to three-week lows of A$72.09, and mining services firm WorleyParsons Ltd slipped 0.8 percent.

U.S. stocks ended higher on Friday, lifting the S&P 500 to a fresh closing high, after a weaker-than-expected jobs report was taken as a sign that the Federal Reserve will not begin raising interest rates anytime soon.

The Australian benchmark jumped on the back of a mixed earnings season to hit a six-year peak of 5,679.5 on Aug. 21. Since then, it has skidded some 100 points as investors trade cautiously among the resource space as iron ore prices have slumped on slack demand.

Ore prices have fallen 10 percent over the last month "so that continues to probably put a little bit of pressure on the market as well," said Martin Lakos, division director at Macqaurie Bank.

"We don't see a lot more downside, it can go down below $80, but we actually see upside towards the end of this year."

BHP Billiton Ltd edged 0.2 percent higher and Fortescue Metals Ltd climbed 1.4 percent. Fledging miner Western Desert Resources Ltd has been the first Australian casualty of the iron ore slump, entering administration.

Trade was also light with markets in Korea and China closed for the mid-Autumn festival.

Australian job advertisements in newspapers on the Internet rose for a third straight month in August to hit a 17-month high. "That's indicative of why we've seen business confidence improving so that's clearly good news," Lakos said.

Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd dropped 2.4 percent after acquiring Discount Drug Stores for A$26.7 million, which adds 121 pharmacies to its network.

Charter Hall Group rose 1.3 percent after acquiring a A$603 million investment portfolio of properties from ALH group.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX-50 index edged up to a an intraday record high of 5,260.87, lifted by gains in U.S. share markets.

Heartland rose 4.2 percent to an all-time high of NZ$1.00 ($0.8327after the bank and financial services company announced it took a 10 percent stake in peer-to-peer lending platform HarMoney Corp.

Overall gains were limited by a fall in Sky Network Television, which tumbled 2.7 percent to a six-month low of NZ$6.10 after New Zealand's dominant pay TV operator said it had lost the broadcast rights for PGA golf events. (Editing by Richard Borsuk)