New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index dropped 2.5% to close at 13,198 on Friday, pulling back from a three-week high and sinking to its lowest level in more than four months, as weak leads from Wall Street weighed on risk appetite. US equities slumped overnight amid a broad-based sell-off in technology and AI-related stocks.
Sentiment was further undermined by lingering uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s rate-cut trajectory, with investors also staying cautious ahead of a key US inflation report due later in the day. Locally, a run of mixed economic data added to the risk-off tone: visitor arrivals growth slowed to 7% year-on-year from 8.2% in November; first-quarter business inflation accelerated to a two-year high of 2.37%; and the business PMI eased to 55.2 from December’s three-year peak of 56.1, while still indicating solid expansion.
Losses were broad-based across the market, with heavyweight healthcare, industrials, and utilities leading the declines. Among the notable laggards were Fisher & Paykel (down 7.1%), Gentrack Group (down 5.8%), and EBOS Group (down 3.5%).
