New Zealand shares fell on Friday as most Asian indexes were down following fresh tariff impositions by the US on its trading partners.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 0.74% or 94.34 points to close at 12,729.4.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order imposing tariffs ranging from 10% to 41% on imports from dozens of countries and foreign locations, with rates set at 25% for India, 20% for Taiwan, 19% for Thailand, and 15% for South Korea, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite closed 1% up after Microsoft earnings impressed investors, making it the second company to cross the $4 trillion market cap milestone.

According to a Thursday Reuters report, New Zealand on Thursday passed legislation to reopen the country for offshore oil and gas exploration, lifting a ban imposed by its former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

In domestic news, New Zealand's inflation expectations rose to 5.1% in July, up by 0.2 percentage points and the highest since early 2023, being driven by higher food prices, as consumer confidence weakens in the country, said ANZ Research.

Also, the number of people in New Zealand who are behind on payments fell by 7,000 sequentially to 478,000 in June, but was flat year on year, with the trend of arrears improvement likely stalling, according to a report by Centrix.

Further, New Zealand's new dwellings consent fell to 2,627 in June compared with 3,151 in May, according to Stats NZ data.

Meanwhile, the stock levels in New Zealand's property market dropped by almost 2,000 listings for the third consecutive month in July to 30,430, falling 0.4% year-over-year, according to data from realestate.co.nz.

In corporate news, Warehouse Group (NZE:WHS) has appointed John Journee as chair of the board, effective after this year's annual shareholders' meeting (ASM) on Nov. 28.

AFT Pharmaceuticals (ASX:AFP, NZE:AFT) maintained its fiscal year 2026 operating profit in the range of NZ$20 million to NZ$24 million and said it is on track to meet fiscal year 2027 revenue of NZ$300 million.