Canada and Mexico also declared their intentions to impose levies on US imports after Washington imposed 25% tariffs on its two neighbours.
The S&P 500 closed down 1.2% on Tuesday, erasing all the gains from a bullish run after Trump’s election on November 5. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index dropped 0.4%.
Goodson said that volatility is impacting NZ markets as well because it spooks investors out of equities everywhere.
“Retail investors hold a little more cash. Hedge funds take their position size down, et cetera, et cetera,” he said.
“It lifts the risk premium in equities when you’re going to get blown around by the latest unforecastable headline that emanates out of the Trump administration. That is really the key takeaway from this.”
Auckland International Airport declined 2.66% to $8.05; Fletcher Building decreased 2.07% to $3.31; and Meridian was down 3.81% to $5.55, while fellow gentailer Contact Energy shed 0.97% to $9.20.
Mainfreight, which has direct exposure to the US market, was down 2.28% to $68.
Goodson said one notable counter-example was Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which rose 3.52% to $34.68 despite being acutely affected by tariffs in Mexico. The stock is still down nearly 9% in the year-to-date.
While the New Zealand Exchange (NZX) was quiet on the announcement front after a busy reporting season, there was at least one update that surprised investors on the upside.
Oceania was up 4.69% to 67c after it told the market it refinanced its debt and posted a trading update. The retirement village and aged care company said new unit sales grew 29% in the third quarter compared to the same period last year, while resales grew 6%.
Stephen Ridgewell, head of research at Craigs Investment Partners, also highlighted that Oceania had reached 34% occupancy at its flagship Auckland development, The Helier.
“They’ve got a way to go,” Ridgewell said. “But I think the pickup and cadence is really encouraging.”
The other two large listed retirement companies, Summerset and Ryman Healthcare, were heavily traded with values amounting to $10.6m and $13.2m, respectively.
Summerset was down 2.04% to $12.03 after its full-year earnings on Friday helped assuage fears of a severe sales slowdown.
Ryman, which lost 0.99% to $3, is now trading five cents below the price offered to investors for the company’s equity raise that is currently taking place.
Precinct Properties shares rose 1.71% to $1.19 after it announced a conditional agreement to sell the hotel at One Queen Street in Auckland for $180m.
Goodson said the market reaction was “accurate” because the hotel “sold for a decent price”.
While it didn’t impact price movements, Goodson said the sudden resignation of Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) governor Adrian Orr was on traders’ minds.
On balance, Goodson said he thought markets will have viewed Orr’s tenure as “mixed”, particularly during the post-Covid period, adding that traders will be paying close attention to who is chosen to replace him.
Other gainers included a2 Milk Company, which was up 1.49% to $8.87; Vector added 1.25% to $4.06; and Vista Group collected 1.09% to $3.70.
