New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index joined a broad decline across Asia as Alibaba Group’s share placement to help fund its artificial intelligence aspirations kept investors nervous ahead of Nvidia’s earnings later this week, and weighing on the likes of data centre investors such as Infratil.

Chorus led the benchmark index lower as the broadband network operator reported earnings growth in line with forecasts, but its outlook for the current year didn’t quite live up to analysts’ expectations, while Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rallied as brokers upgraded the medical device maker in the wake of its rosier guidance.

Retailers were mixed after Statistics New Zealand’s latest figures showed consumer spending volumes shrank in the June quarter, though that was largely in fuel and autoparts.

And SkyCity Entertainment Group hit a month-high amid Australian media reports that the casino operator had attracted potential suitors as it weighs options for its Adelaide site.

Up in the cloud

The NZX 50 dropped 90.78 points, or 0.7%, to 13,881.88, with 31 stocks declining, 14 gaining and five unchanged. The S&P/NZX 20 index futures contract for September slipped 0.7% to 7,754, with one lot traded for a value of $7,754, while the NZX 20 fell 0.9% to 7,790.61.

Turnover across the main board was $104.8 million, of which F&P Healthcare accounted for $15.8 million as the medical device maker rose 1.6% to $44.22.

The country’s biggest listed company had its price target raised by analysts at Forsyth Barr, Macquarie and Jefferies to between $46.90 and $51.

Forsyth Barr’s Ben Crozier and Matt Montgomerie – who raised their price target by $4.15 to $46.90 – said the company’s increased guidance was comfortably ahead of expectations.

“Strong hospital hardware growth is again the key driver of the upgrade,” Crozier and Montgomerie said in a note to clients. “While hardware sales may seem more one-off than consumables revenue, it implies F&P Healthcare’s new devices are receiving strong uptake, including its Airvo3 system, which has opened up opportunities outside the ICU – continued hardware strength is encouraging for future consumables sales.”

Stock markets were broadly weaker across Asia, with Alibaba Group sinking 9.8% in Hong Kong after the Chinese tech giant said it would raise HK$80 billion through a placement to investors to help fund its artificial intelligence investments. Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics dropped 8.4% after announcing its plans to return as much as 110 trillion won to investors.

South Korea’s Kospi dropped 3% in late trading, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 2.1%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was one of the few markets to gain in the Asian trading session, up 0.5% in late trading, as rising copper prices buoyed mining stocks.

Local data centre investor Infratil declined 2.1% to $14.68, one of the biggest drags on the local bourse in a day of broad-based selling.

Great expectations

Chorus led the NZX 50 lower as it sank 5.3% to $9.05 as its forecast for earnings and dividend growth in the current financial year was a touch short of analysts’ expectations. The broadband network operator reported a 3% increase in annual earnings to $726 million, meeting forecasts.

“The earnings outlook for FY27 was in line, to arguably very modestly soft,” Amova Asset Management portfolio manager Michael De Cesare said in a note. “The guidance range presented captured consensus market expectation, but this sat at the top end of the range; taking the mid-point of guidance, it is approximately 1.3% below prior market consensus.”

PFI advanced 1.3% to $2.37 after the industrial property landlord lifted annual adjusted funds from operations 14%, with full-year dividends of 9.5 cents per share, up from 8.6 cents a year earlier. The property company said it expected to increase dividends by up to 3.7% in the current financial year.

Retailers were mixed after Statistics New Zealand figures showed the volume of retail sales shrank 0.5% in the June quarter, with fuel and autoparts experiencing the sharpest declines.

Hallenstein Glasson Holdings fell 2.4% to $10.48 and Warehouse Group slipped 0.8% to 65.5 cents, while KMD Brands rose 0.6% to $1.72. Briscoe Group and Michael Hill International were unchanged at $4.62 and 41 cents respectively.

Nick Brunsdon, an economist at Infometrics, said consumer spending didn’t dent core activity as much as had been feared.

“Although higher fuel prices and related lower fuel purchases saw total retail spending volumes drop, core retail activity continued to grow in the June 2026 quarter,” Brunsdon said in a note. “Still positive – but still slower – core spending growth indicates the demand destruction from the Iran war and higher fuel prices we feared has been less intense than first thought.”

SkyCity posted the biggest gain on the day as it jumped 9.9% to 66.5 cents after a report in The Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column that the casino operator had attracted interest from potential buyers.

Outside the benchmark index, dual-listed Ventia Services gained 4.3% to $7.04 after reporting a 7.4% increase in adjusted first-half profit and hiking its interim dividend as the infrastructure maintenance firm eked out wider margins despite slowing revenue growth.

The kiwi dollar traded at 59.75 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 59.64 cents last week.

Reporting by Paul McBeth.