Air NZ tumbles to new low as fuel costs mount; NZX50 slides

Air New Zealand tumbled to a fresh low after warning of mounting losses on rising jet fuel costs, leading the S&P/NZX 50 index lower in a broadly softer day across Asia.

Investors across the region looked ahead to the summit between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, with the late addition of Nvidia chief Jensen Huang raising expectations of a breakthrough on sales of semiconductors to Asia’s biggest economy.

Locally, soft housing figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand weighed on retirement village operators Ryman Healthcare and Summerset Group Holdings, with second-tier bank Heartland Group Holdings near the bottom of the leaderboard.

And across the Tasman, Kiwi expat accounting software firm Xero was on track for its sharpest daily decline in more than a month as its Melio acquisition to accelerate US growth dented the company’s annual profit.