New Zealand shares fell on Tuesday amid rising trade war tensions between the superpowers of the US and China.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 0.6% or 74.93 points to close at 13,276.99.
Global equities turned sharply lower on Friday after US President Donald Trump announced 100% tariffs on China, rekindling memories of the market turbulence that followed April’s “Liberation Day” declaration. The selloff eased only after Trump struck a softer tone later on his Truth Social platform.
“The reason is not so much the reassuring President Trump tweet over the weekend, but the fact that China may be the only country with bargaining power, where the U.S. may have to be more flexible in its negotiation stance,” said Citi analysts, as quoted by Reuters.
In domestic news, New Zealand’s electronic card spending on a seasonally-adjusted basis fell 0.4% month over month to NZ$9.54 billion in September, following a 0.4% rise in August, according to data from Stats NZ.
Further, the REINZ House Price Index came in at 3,606 in September, showing a year-on-year increase of 0.2%, and a month-over-month increase of 0.8%, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) said.
Also, New Zealand’s average home values fell 1.1% in the September quarter, down 0.2% year on year, largely due to declining house prices in Auckland, property valuation company QV said.
In corporate news, New Zealand shares of Westpac Banking (NZE:WBC, ASX:WBC) fell 2% on Tuesday, while those of ANZ Group (NZE:ANZ, ASX:ANZ) gained about 1%, after the New Zealand central bank said it plans to ease mortgage loan-to-value ratio restrictions from Dec. 1.
Meanwhile, Meridian Energy’s (NZE:MEL, ASX:MEZ) retail sales volumes rose to 880 gigawatt hours (GWh) in September from 743 GWh a year earlier. The company’s Kiwi shares closed up almost 1%.
Scott Technology (NZE:SCT) received NZ$44 million in contracts to deliver automation systems to multinational appliance manufacturers across the US and Brazil. The company’s shares reached a 1.5-year high during the session.
