Feb 10 (Reuters) - Australian shares fell on Monday, led by financials and miners, as market participants waited for corporate earnings to see whether profits justify stretched valuations.

The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO was down 0.3% to 8,487.1 by 0100 GMT. The benchmark lost 0.2% last week.

Corporate Australia is widely expected to post flat or modestly higher earnings and a miss to expectations threatens to tip companies off their high valuations.

Financials .AXFJ led losses on the benchmark stock index with a drop of 0.7%. The sub-index gained nearly 2.1% in the last two sessions.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX and National Australia Bank NAB.AX both lost 1%.

Miners .AXMM were down 0.3%, with BHP BHP.AX and Rio Tinto RIO.AX trading 0.8% and 0.6% lower, respectively.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would announce 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports into the country.

Australian miners count iron ore, a key steelmaking ingredient, as one of their top exports.

Tech firms .AXIJ tumbled 1.5% after their Wall Street peers closed lower on Friday. .N

The U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 0.99% on Friday. The S&P 500 .SPX lost 0.95%, while the Nasdaq .IXIC declined 1.36%.

Energy stocks .AXEJ lost 0.3% after oil prices posted their third straight weekly loss.

Brent crude LCOc1 futures rose 0.23% to $74.83 a barrel on Monday, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate $(WTI)$ crude CLc1 gained 0.23% to $71.16 per barrel.

Meanwhile, gold miners .AXGD and healthcare firms .AXHJ were both up 0.1%.

Among individual stocks, medical equipment supplier Ansell ANN.AX rose 6.8% after raising its annual earnings-per-share forecast, while online vehicle marketplace CAR Group CAR.AX fell 6.6% after its first-half results missed street view.

Star Entertainment SGR.AX gained 15.9% after the casino operator said it had received separate offers from its Hong Kong-based investors to acquire a 50% interest in its Destination Brisbane Joint Venture.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 was down 0.5% at 12,836.42.

(Reporting by Aaditya Govind Rao in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

((aaditya.govindrao@thomsonreuters.com))

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