New Zealand shares fell Thursday amid Wall Street touching new highs after the US secured a trade deal with Vietnam.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 0.6% or 79.81 points to close at 12,704.48.
The benchmark S&P 500 ended at a record high, adding 0.5% to close at 6,227.42 points. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.9%.
US President Donald Trump said he will impose a lower-than-promised 20% tariff on some Vietnamese exports as tensions eased between the two countries, days before the tariff deadline of July 9, Reuters reported Thursday.
"The hope, most likely, is that this development will lead to additional trade deals that could see tariffs come down. But on the whole, I think that investors are still in for a rude awakening. With markets at all-time highs, there is a lot of opportunity for a decline moving forward," said Daniel Jones, investing group leader of Crude Value Insights, as quoted by Seeking Alpha.
In domestic news, the ANZ World Commodity Price Index fell 2.3% in June compared month-over-month, weighed down by dairy prices, according to a Thursday report from ANZ Research.
Also, property values in New Zealand edged up in June, with the Cotality Home Value Index up 0.2%, the real estate data provider reported Thursday.
In corporate news, Contact Energy (ASX:CEN, NZE:CEN) received high court approval for its proposed scheme of arrangement to acquire 100% of Manawa Energy (NZE:MNW). Contact's New Zealand shares shed about 1% at market close, while Manawa Energy was marginally lower.
Kiwi Property Group (NZE:KPG) said that ASB Bank has extended its lease at the ASB North Wharf office building in Auckland's Wynyard Quarter for an additional nine years. The stock closed up almost 2%.
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