** Australian tech stocks .AXIJ fall as much as 2.4% to their lowest level since April 11

** Sub-index tracks Wall Street peers after U.S. stocks tumbled overnight, as President Donald Trump intensified criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, fuelling concerns over Fed’s independence amid ongoing trade war uncertainty .N

** ASX-listed shares of payments company Block XYZ.AX down about 5%, data centre firm NEXTDC NXT.AX sheds 2.8%

** Sub-index down near 18.4% YTD, as of 0054 GMT

(Reporting by Roshan Thomas in Bengaluru)

((Roshan.Thomas@thomsonreuters.com))