Australian shares retreated from record highs to end marginally lower on Tuesday, pulled down by healthcare, real estate and banking companies, while New Zealand dairy firm Synlait Milk slumped about 7% after a weak earnings forecast.

Resuming trading after a long holiday weekend, the S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.1% to end at 7,887.90 points. It gained 0.2% to a record high of 7,910.50 earlier in the day.

The heavyweight banking sector shed 0.2%, with National Australia Bank gaining 0.5%. The rest of the so-called "Big Four" lenders drifted in tight ranges.

Healthcare stocks lost 0.94%, with private hospital operator Ramsay Health Care shedding 3.2%.

Real estate stocks ended 1% lower, with Dexus and Charter Hall Group losing 0.8% each.

Meanwhile, minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) meeting last month revealed the central bank did not consider raising interest rates, as it had done in previous meetings, but rather indicated it needed more time to be confident on inflation to rule out a future hike.

"Inflation continues to move in the right direction, and unemployment will continue to rise this year, forcing the RBA to cut in the second half of 2024," said Josh Gilbert, a market analyst at Israeli brokerage eToro.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia continues to expect the RBA to start easing rates from September, Gareth Aird, the lender's head of Australian economics, wrote.

Mining stocks gained 1.5% as Chinese factory data over the weekend brought some relief to beaten-down iron ore prices.

Mining behemoths BHP Group and Rio Tinto gained 1.9% and 0.7%, respectively.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.1% to finish the session at 12,095.8500.

Synlait Milk slumped 6.7% after it forecast weaker full-year earnings due to weak demand and foreign exchange headwinds. (Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)