** Jefferies says it is positive on the data centres sector in Australia and New Zealand; top picks being data centre operators NEXTDC NXT.AX and Infratil IFT.NZ

** Says total data centre capacity in the region is 1.3 gigawatts and projected to grow at 25% CAGR

** Says sector seeing strong demand driven by NVIDIA's NVDA.O chip sales

** Brokerage has greater conviction in NXT and IFT because of their strong relationships with large customers and a 'robust' pipeline of future developments

** It, however, flags that data centre provider Macquarie Technology Group MAQ.AX could potentially face intense competition from nearby facilities

** Jefferies last week said Amazon's AMZN.O investment in cloud infrastructure and accelerated cloud migration are creating tailwinds in the region

** YTD, MAQ, IFT and NXT are down ~30%, ~18% and ~6% respectively

(Reporting by Kumar Tanishk in Bengaluru)

((Tanishk.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com; X: @thatstanishk http://www.x.com/thatstanishk;))