Australia shares stung by banks, NZ stocks off record highs

(Adds analysis, quotes, stocks on the move)

By Cecile Lefort and Swati Pandey

SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Australian shares fell for the sixth consecutive session on Monday, with losses across the board as investors awaited an interest rate decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia.

The S&P/ASX 200 index tumbled 1.3 percent or 70.63 points to 5,168.50 by 2:55 GMT. The benchmark bounced 4.4 percent higher last month.

Sentiment remained bearish after recent data out of China was too mixed to ease worries about slowing growth in the Asian economy.

Investors were also nervous ahead of the RBA's interest rate decision on Tuesday. The vast majority of analysts in a Reuters poll expect the RBA would keep rates at a record low of 2.0 percent.

The financial sector was hit hard with Westpac Banking Corp off around 2.2 percent. The nation's third largest-lender by assets posted a 3 percent rise in annual profit, but highlighted a fragile outlook with modest credit growth, intense competition and ongoing regulatory uncertainty.

The downbeat sentiment was felt through the sector with Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Other OTC: CBAUF - news) and ANZ Bank off around 2 percent, while National Australia Bank dropped 1.6 percent. Macquarie Group was the clear underperformer with a loss of nearly 5 percent.

Health care stocks too came under pressure with Sigma Pharmaceuticals off 3.6 percent, having run into profit taking.

Miners too suffered from ongoing weakness in metal prices and concerns about China, the world's largest importer of commodities. BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) was down 0.4 percent.

Oil and gas producer Santos (Dusseldorf: STS1.DU - news) stood among the rare winners with a 3 percent rise after Malaysia's Sona Petroleum agreed to buy its Stag oil field for $50 million.

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New Zealand's benchmark NZX (Other OTC: NZSTF - news) 50 index barely moved on Monday as the market continued to consolidate after touching an all-time high of 6,014.48 points last week. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) was trading at 5,989.68, up 3.3 points or 0.06 percent, from Friday's close.

The index had a 12-day rally which ended last week.

Industrials and healthcare stocks led gains on Monday while financials were among top losers.

Fletcher Building (NZSE: FBU.NZ - news) was down 0.8 percent, recoiling from a two-month peak set last week.

Auckland airport rose 0.7 percent, not far from two month highs hit earlier in the week.

Accounting software company Xero (Frankfurt: 0XE.F - news) gained 2.26 percent after Credit Suisse (LSE: 0QP5.L - news) upgraded it to outperform from neutral on Friday. (Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)