New Zealand shares fell 46 points, or 0.3%, to 13,152 in Monday morning trading, extending losses into a second session as weakness in energy minerals, utilities, and healthcare weighed on sentiment. The NZX 50 hovered near a four-month low, pressured by domestic data pointing to slower service-sector growth in January and softer credit card spending at the start of 2026, while investors remained cautious ahead of upcoming food inflation figures.
In the US, markets will be closed on Monday for Presidents Day, but investors are still assessing cooler-than-expected January inflation data against mounting concerns around the AI sector. Losses on the local market were partly limited by expectations that the RBNZ will keep the cash rate unchanged at its first policy meeting of the year later this week.
Among the notable decliners were AFT Pharmaceuticals (-4.0%), Fletcher Building (-3.0%), Meridian Energy (-2.9%), and Channel Infrastructure (-2.1%).
