Australia, NZ shares steady, gold stocks tumble

(Adds analysis, quotes, stocks on the move)

By Cecile Lefort and Naomi Tajitsu

SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, July 20 (Reuters) - Shares (Frankfurt: DI6.F - news) in Australian gold miners were hit hard as the international price of the precious metal sank to a five-year low on Monday, but banks and technology firms managed to offset commodity weakness, leaving the overall index little changed.

The S&P/ASX 200 index dipped 0.1 percent or 8.2 points to 5,631.9 by 03:31 GMT. The benchmark hit a three-week peak of 5,591.2 last Thursday.

A sharp drop in gold's price sent the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold index index around 9 percent down, as currency factors exacerbated the weakness.

"The Australian dollar gold price is falling faster than the Aussie dollar and that's hurting the gold miners," said David Lennox, a commodities analyst for Fat Prophets.

Evolution Mining tumbled 15 percent, while Northern Star Resources lost 9 percent, and Newcrest Mining , Australia's biggest independent listed producer, shed 8 percent.

The energy sector was also affected with Woodside Petroleum (Xetra: WOPA.DE - news) , Origin Energy (Other OTC: OGFGF - news) and Santos under pressure.

Financial shares, however, fared better after the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) said on Monday it will lift the amount of bank capital for home loans to strengthen the finances of the nation's largest lenders.

Investors were relieved that the increase was on the low end of the expected range.

Macquarie Group was the biggest beneficiary, up 2 percent, while Australia and New Zealand Banking Group added 0.7 percent.

Information and technology sector outperformed, thanks in part to a near 4 percent jump in Computershare Ltd following a weekend media report about a potential UK acquisition.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX50 index edged up 10.87 points or 0.2 percent to a two-week high of 5,864.63 in early trade, boosted by gains in telecommunications and industrial shares.

A thaw in global risk aversion bolstered the country's biggest companies, with telecom retailer Spark rising 1 percent, while Auckland Airport rose 0.5 percent and Air New Zealand rose 0.9 percent.

Summerset jumped 1.3 percent to a lifetime high of NZ$3.99 after the fast-growing retirement village operator said it had picked up more land to extend one of its existing villages, while it was looking for more land acquisitions.

Further upside was limited by a 0.5 percent slide in building materials maker Fletcher Building (NZSE: FBU.NZ - news) .

A2 Milk Company was down 1.3 percent at NZ$0.760 after the niche milk processor said it had rejected a takeover offer from Australia's Freedom Foods and U.S. food giant Dean Foods. (Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)