OREANDA-NEWS. February 18, 2015. Australian shares declined on Tuesday after one of the country's big banks disappointed investors with its earnings result, cooling a red-hot sector that helped drive the market to multi-year highs recently.

Worries that Greece has yet to secure a new debt agreement with its European lenders also hurt sentiment.

The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 0.5 percent lower at 5,858.2, turning around from a seven-year closing high of 5,888.7.

Shares in Australia and New Zealand Banking Group slid 2.5 percent - the biggest one-day fall in nine months - after the bank's first-quarter margins shrank and trading income fell.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index edged down 0.1 percent, or 8.03 points, to 5,750.2.