The NZX 50 slipped 50 points, or 0.4%, to 13,445 in Monday morning trade, extending its muted performance from the previous session and mirroring Friday’s pullback on Wall Street, where chipmakers led the sell-off.
Sentiment remained cautious ahead of June readings on New Zealand consumer and business confidence, which, while improving in May, stayed at subdued levels. Investors were also awaiting China’s June PMI figures and US non-farm payrolls data to better assess the economic outlook for the world’s second- and largest economies.
Softer oil prices helped limit losses by easing inflation concerns and tempering expectations of further interest rate hikes. Even so, weakness in materials, utilities, consumer discretionary, and healthcare stocks dragged on the benchmark. Notable decliners included Delegat Group (-2.8%), Turners Automotive (-2.3%), Westpac Banking Corp. (-1.9%), Contact Energy (-1.6%), Hallenstein Glasson (-1.2%), Meridian Energy (-1.2%), and Fisher & Paykel (-0.6%).