The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed down 0.62% or 79.81 points, falling to 12,704.48, with 28,158,161 shares worth $98.36 million traded.
The S&P/NZX 20 index closed at 7,447.61, down 0.63%, while the S&P/NZX 10 index ended the day at 1,893.63, a fall of 1.06%.
There were 73 gainers and 53 decliners on the main board.
Random flows
Salt Funds Management managing director Matt Goodson said that while the market has had a reasonable couple of days, the NZX's general moves were more due to random flows than issues with specific stocks.
“It’s probably been dominated by the large cap of Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, after a very strong start earlier in the month. So, it’s just given a little bit of that back,” Goodson said.
“It’s just up on buy flows and down on sell flows rather than any fundamental reason.”
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare's share price fell $1.10 to $36.40 after 263,851 shares were traded worth $9.6m.
Meanwhile, Ryman Healthcare’s share price rallied 3.07% and closed up 7c at $2.35.
Lease renewed
Kiwi Property Group announced that ASB Bank had extended its lease for a further nine years at its Wynyard Quarter location in Auckland.
Goodson said it was clearly good news for the group.
“The gradually approaching end of lease was something that was worrying the market because it’s quite a unique building in a location that is not the core CBD. If ASB had left, they could have had significant difficulty re-leasing it.
“To re-sign them for another nine years once the current lease has ended is clearly good news. It will likely lead to an upward valuation in the building.”
Kiwi Property Group's share price rose 1.65% to $0.92, with 2,158,621 shares changing hands worth $1.99m.
Infratil falls
The other big mover was Infratil, its share price fell 1.79% to $10.45, down 19c, with 612,433 shares worth $6.43m traded.
Goodson said the Australian market was of interest after very sharp positive movements in a number of resource stocks.
Eyes on Trump
Looking to the end of the week, Goodson said investors will be watching how Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” progresses and whether it passes through the US House.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at fresh records on Wednesday after President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Vietnam, which offset weak hiring data.
The session began in a dreary fashion after payroll firm ADP said the US private sector lost 33,000 jobs in June, adding to worries ahead of Thursday’s critical government jobs data.
But markets welcomed Trump’s announcement that he reached a deal with Vietnam.
“Little by little, we are coming to agreements,” said Sam Stovall of CFRA Research. This “should be regarded as positive”.
The broad-based S&P rose 0.5% to 6227.42, its third all-time high in the last four sessions.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.9% to 20,393.13, also a record, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was unchanged at 44,484.42.
– Additional reporting AFP
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