New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 rose for a second week as soft jobs figures this week supported the Reserve Bank’s caution over hiking the benchmark interest rate, while KMD Brands posted the biggest gain after hooking a potential suitor for exclusive due diligence.

The local market declined on Friday amid a savaging across Asian markets as tech-heavy bourses in Japan and South Korea plunged on fears of slower investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure, with Infratil the biggest headwind on the day for the NZX 50.

Tourism Holdings was among the bigger gainers after saying its two suitors had put in new offers, while Spark New Zealand was unchanged after saying it was still working through the review of its digital services business.

And Pacific Edge surged to a four-month high after the bladder cancer test maker regained US Medicare and Medicaid coverage.

Red wave

The NZX 50 fell 92.48 points, or 0.7%, to 13,998.5, giving up some of yesterday’s surge and slowing its weekly gain to 1.5%.

Unexpectedly soft jobs data on Wednesday were seen as vindicating the Reserve Bank’s decision not to hike the official cash rate, with bond traders pricing in a 60% chance of an increase in December, down from 80% before the release.

“The data was weaker than the RBNZ expected and will give the monetary policy committee reason to maintain their cautious approach to OCR hikes,” ANZ New Zealand economists said in a note.

KMD Brands posted the biggest gain this week, climbing 12% after it gave Bluestar Alliance exclusive due diligence access in sounding out potential buyers, while Spark New Zealand climbed 4.8% and Ebos Group advanced 4.6%.

Summerset Group Holdings posted the steepest decline, falling 5.5% this week, while Channel Infrastructure dropped 5% as oil prices eased on growing optimism that the US and Iran would resume peace negotiations.

Asian markets were punished on Friday as investors grew wary of a potential slowing of AI investment after the Democratic Party swept control of the US House of Representatives and Senate, with Japan’s Nikkei sinking 6.1% in late trading and South Korea’s Kospi sliding 5.3%. Tokyo-listed SoftBank tumbled 11% in late trading and Korea’s SK Hynix was down 13% in rocky trading. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.5%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.1%.

Greg Boland, market strategy consultant at Moomoo, said today’s slump was more than a routine pullback in tech stocks, with investors reassessing how quickly the enormous investment intentions would translate into revenue.

“When stocks that have been among the strongest performers in the market start falling by double digits, it tells you investors are reducing risk rather than simply rotating between sectors,” Boland said.

Easier ride

New Zealand’s decline on Friday wasn’t as harsh, although it was widespread with 32 stocks in the NZX 50 weaker, while 11 gained and six unchanged. Precinct Properties New Zealand remained in a trading halt pending its capital return.

The S&P/NZX 20 index futures contract for December fell 0.6% to 7,681, with 50 lots traded for a value of $385,000, while the NZX 20 slipped 0.6% to 7,686. The kiwi dollar fell to 55.64 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 56.52 cents yesterday.

Turnover across the main board was $112.3 million, of which Fisher & Paykel Healthcare accounted for $25.6 million as the country’s biggest listed company decreased 0.2% to $48.45.

Data centre investor Infratil was the biggest drag on the NZX 50, falling 1.9% to $13. That pared its weekly gain to 3.8%.

Serko posted the steepest decline on the benchmark index, falling 4.7% to $1.21, while Sanford fell 3.6% to $6.65. The fishing group is one of the few NZX-listed companies exposed to the outcome of Saturday’s general election, with the Opportunity and Green parties both proposing bans on bottom trawling.

Briscoe Group fell 2.5% to $4.25 after the retailer reported a 3% increase in third-quarter sales, and said annual profit would likely be up to $55 million, down from $59.2 million a year earlier.

Retailers were generally weaker after internal card spending figures from ANZ and Westpac NZ showed mixed results on discretionary spending. KMD Brands fell 0.5% to $2.10 and Warehouse Group slipped 1.5% to 67 cents, while Hallenstein Glasson Holdings increased 0.1% to $14.33.

Spark was the most heavily traded stock on the day, with a volume of 2.1 million shares changing hands. The stock was unchanged at $2.08. Chair Vince Hawksworth told shareholders at today’s annual meeting that the review of its digital services business was ongoing, and reaffirmed earnings guidance.

Meanwhile, Tourism Holdings gained 1.1% to $2.83 after the company told shareholders at today’s annual meeting that it had received revised bids, without providing details on price.

Kiwi Property Group posted the biggest gain on the day, up 1.1% at 93 cents.

Outside the benchmark index, Pacific Edge jumped 18% to 29.5 cents after its Cxbladder triage and triage plus products were included in Medicare coverage database, with the reimbursement rate allowing for a meaningfully higher average selling price.

Tāiko Critical Minerals climbed 9.5% to 23 cents after the junior miner said it had received conditional approval of its fast-track application for the West Coast project with the panel’s draft decision granting all approvals sought, subject to final conditions of consent.

And after the bell, Third Age Health Services said it agreed to buy 75% of asbestos specialist Consultex Group for $3.8 million. The medical services business said Consultex operated in a different sector, but shared several similar underlying characteristics. The shares rose 1.5% to $4.06 on Friday.

Reporting by Paul McBeth.