SYDNEY — Australian shares fell for a fourth consecutive session Monday as a heavy slate of corporate earnings reports collided with a softer lead from Wall Street and lingering unease over Middle East tensions weighing on oil markets.

The S&P/ASX 200 was trading at 9,084.2 points, down 31.0 points or 0.34%, as of 1:56 p.m. AEST, extending a losing streak that has now stretched through the second week of the country's peak corporate reporting period.

The benchmark had opened the session on a weak footing after ASX 200 futures pointed to a decline of roughly 33 points, or 0.36%, ahead of the open. The index briefly touched a decline near 0.33% mid-morning before drifting to session lows in early afternoon trade.

Monday's retreat followed a mixed finish on Wall Street last Friday, where major U.S. indexes eased from record highs reached earlier in the week. The S&P 500 slipped 0.17%, the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.28% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.20%, according to closing data. The Russell 2000 bucked the trend with a 0.51% gain. Despite the pullback, the S&P 500 still closed out a third straight weekly advance, its longest winning streak since May, after a stretch of strong second-quarter corporate profit growth power its run to fresh highs.

Soft U.S. retail sales and consumer sentiment data released Friday contributed to the pullback in........

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