NZX50 falls 1.6% this week as tariffs whipsaw markets

The S&P/NZX 50 fell for a third week in a row as US President Donald Trump’s shifting of the tariff goalposts whipsawed markets, pushing the Nasdaq Composite into correction territory.

The NZX50 declined 29.06 points, or 0.2%, to 12,399.78, taking the weekly decline to 1.6%, with markets across Asia following the downbeat tone set on Wall Street as the constant changing of the White House’s tariff regime exhausted investors. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 1.6% in late trading, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 2%.

Trump left investors guessing as he imposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico, then carved out the auto industry, the gave Mexico an extension, and finally included Canada in the exclusions. The Nasdaq dropped 2.6% on Thursday in the US, and is 10% below its December peak, entering correction territory.

“The tariffs worry everyone,” said Peter McIntyre, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners. “The Nasdaq confirmed a correction and US trade policy has created all this uncertainty about what’s happening there.”

The kiwi dollar fell to 57.17 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 57.43 cents at 7am and 57.31 cents yesterday. It gained to 90.59 Australian cents from 90.40 cents yesterday.

Turnover across the NZX’s main board was $110.2 million on Friday, with McIntyre saying the heightened uncertainty kept trading quiet.

Westpac Banking Corp led the local market lower on the day, with the Australian banks broadly weaker on the ASX. Westpac fell 3.6% to $33.50, with its head of retail banking announcing her exit, while ANZ Group Holdings declined 2.8% to $31.66.

“That was quite surprising because a report came out saying the banking sector was immune to the tariffs that Trump’s looking to impose,” McIntyre said.

Auckland International Airport declined 1.7% to $8.01 with 1.2 million shares changing hands, while Spark New Zealand was the most heavily traded stock on a volume of 5 million as it decreased 0.7% to $2.21.

Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund units declined 3% to $5.19.

Starry starry night

Sky Network Television fell 2.3% to $2.50. The pay-TV operator’s latest update on its satellite migration pushed out the date to mid-April, to allow for an extra week of testing.

NZME slipped 2.5% to $1.17 after the media group sought clarification on how much support shareholder Jim Grenon has to spill the board, which is around 47%.

NZX posted the biggest gain on the benchmark index, up 3.9% to $1.61.

Craigs’ McIntyre said the stock market operator has been briefing brokers after its annual result, talking up the growing importance of its Smart funds management business, which has continued to add products to the bourse.

Retailer KMD Brands increased 2.7% to 38 cents, while Hallenstein Glasson Holdings gained 2.3% to $8.18 and Warehouse Group advanced 2.2% to 93 cents.

Warehouse was at risk of dropping out of the benchmark index, but the NZX50's constituents remained unchanged when the stock market operator released the latest index reweightings after trading closed.

Briscoe Group, which was on the cusp of joining the NZX50, gained 0.4% to $4.56.

Infratil rose 0.4% to $10.54 after its US Longroad renewable energy unit had its valuation trimmed in the latest evaluation, while the UK energy arm Galileo and Qscan radiology divisions both increased in value.

Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Curious News.