New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index snapped a five-day rally as heavyweights Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Infratil dragged down the benchmark, with trading fairly subdued as the school holidays roll on.
The outlook for interest rates continues to weigh on investors as US President Donald Trump’s tax and spending legislation comes up to its final hurdle and as looming US jobs figures will feed into the Federal Reserve’s thinking on its on track for interest rates.
Meanwhile, Westpac NZ played down speculation across the Tasman that it’s looking at hiving off its $11.72 billion KiwiSaver scheme.
And prime minister Christopher Luxon outlined his next quarterly plan, signalling further decisions on freeing up domestic capital markets are being carried over from the June quarter.
A wet day
The NZX50 dropped 79.81 points, or 0.6%, to 12,704.48, with 18 companies declining, 20 gaining and 12 unchanged in a fairly subdued session. Turnover across the main board was $98.4 million.
F&P Healthcare led the market lower, falling 2.9% to $36.40, while Infratil declined 1.8% to $10.45 with the heavyweights dragging down benchmark index.
Investors have been pondering the future track for interest rates, with local business confidence surveys prompting some economists to push out their expectations for the Reserve Bank to cut the official cash rate. The central bank is expected to keep the OCR at 3.25% when it reviews policy next week.
US President Donald Trump’s big and beautiful tax and spending bill has one more hurdle to cross, and has traders pondering its impact on the US dollar with the federal government budget set to grow by trillions of dollars. Meanwhile, upcoming US jobs figures are set to feed into the Fed’s thinking if and when it cuts its federal funds rate.
“The market’s run up on expectations for future rate cuts ahead,” said Peter McIntyre, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners. “These decisions globally will flow back into New Zealand in different ways.”
The kiwi dollar fell to 60.69 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 61.01 cents yesterday.
Trading nations
Stocks on Wall Street were buoyed overnight by the trade deal between the US and Vietnam more than halving the prospective tariffs the South East Asian nation would’ve faced under Trump’s initial regime, while Australia’s trade surplus shrank more than expected as the White House's programme sapped global demand for exports.
Global logistics firm Mainfreight fell 1% to $66.21, while import terminal Channel Infrastructure slipped 2.3% to $2.17. Infant formula exporter a2 Milk Co dropped 1.1% to $8.65 and Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund units declined 0.9% to $6.59.
Port of Tauranga, meanwhile, rose 1.6% to $7.07.
Ryman Healthcare posted the biggest gain on the benchmark index, up 3.1% at $2.35, and was the most heavily traded stock on a volume of almost 3 million shares.
Kiwi Property Group gained 1.7% to 92.5 cents on a volume of 2.2 million after saying it extended its lease with ASB for its Auckland head office.
Outside the benchmark index, Black Pearl Group surged for another day, jumping 30% to $1.18, having neared a seven-month high $1.30 during the session. The software firm rallied yesterday on news that sales of its new Bebop product were growing at a rapid pace.
Not so fast
Meanwhile, Westpac NZ played down speculation in the Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column that the group’s new chief executive was reviewing non-core assets, with the local KiwiSaver scheme seen as a possible contender to be hived off. The scheme, managed by BT Funds, was New Zealand’s fourth biggest with $11.72 billion under management at the end of March, and estimated to generate annual fees of $54.3 million by Morningstar Research.
And prime minister Christopher Luxon outlined the coalition government’s next quarterly plan, saying further decisions on New Zealand’s capital markets are being carried over into the September period.
Stock market operator NZX rose 0.7% to $1.51. It separately released its monthly operating metrics showing the value of trading on the cash market was up 31% in the first half of 2025 from a year earlier.
Across the Tasman, GemLife was up 5.1% in late trading in its ASX debut after raising A$750 million in an initial public offering.
Luxon’s upcoming quarterly plans also include the next steps on improving supermarket competition, decisions on regulations to enable open banking, and new standards to allow more imports of building products.
Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash.
