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By Nichiket Sunil

Jan 15 (Reuters) - Australian shares ended marginally lower on Wednesday, dragged down by tech stocks mirroring Wall Street's decline as investors offloaded risky assets on a re-evaluation of U.S. interest rate cut expectations.

The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO eased 0.2% to close at 8,213.3. The benchmark added 0.5% on Tuesday.

Technology stocks .AXIJ were the biggest losers on the day, slipping 1.3% to their lowest since early November 2024 to end the sixth straight session in the red.

The sub-index constituents largely tracked their Wall Street peers lower, as repricing of U.S. rate cuts affected growth stocks. .N

Sector heavyweight WiseTech Global WTC.AX slumped 3.7% to its lowest level since mid-December 2024.

The U.S. inflation print for last month is due later in the day. Any upside surprise threatens to close the door on future Federal Reserve easing and further dampen risk sentiment.

Junvum Kim, APAC Senior Sales Trader with Saxo Markets, said traders and investors are taking some risk off the table because of the market risks coming up, referring to the upcoming U.S. inflation data and company earnings.

Local investors will be looking at last month's employment report to fortify their bets of rate cuts at the Reserve Bank of Australia's $(RBA)$ February meeting.

Markets have priced in around 70% chance of the RBA cutting its 4.35% cash rate by 25 basis points next month.

"The delivery of rate cuts this year should bode well for market sentiment even if some of these market expectations are already priced in," Liz Dinh, equity strategist at Citi, said.

Banks .AXFJ eased 0.04%, with top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX slipping 0.5%.

Energy stocks .AXEJ shed 0.5% as oil prices slipped from the four-month high hit earlier in the week. O/R

Sub-index major Woodside Energy WDS.AX shed 0.5%.

Healthcare stocks .AXHK added to the decline, dropping 0.7%, while CSL, one of the country's priciest stocks, shed 1.2%.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 gained 0.5% to finish at 12,943.57.

(Reporting by Nichiket Sunil in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy)

((Nichiket.Sunil@thomsonreuters.com;))

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