NZX50 extends decline for 5th week as Trump plans to hit Iran hard

New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index fell for a fifth week as hopes faded for a swift end to the Middle East conflict as US President Donald Trump’s national address ratcheted up the rhetoric instead of laying out an expected exit from Iran.

KMD Brands was at the bottom of the leaderboard for the week as the shares more than halved, despite only coming back to trade on Thursday, after completing its deeply discounted capital to shore up its balance sheet.

Despite the souring mood, the NZX50 ended Thursday in positive territory in a broad-based rally before the long Easter weekend, with Channel Infrastructure among gainers after confirming it’s working to expand onshore diesel storage, while Ebos Group led the benchmark higher.

Meanwhile, power companies were back on the rise with energy in the headlines with the sector’s annual conference underway in Wellington, Contact Energy’s proposed Southland wind farm getting resource consent and Simeon Brown adding the portfolio to his ministerial workload in prime minister Christopher Luxon’s cabinet reshuffle.