New Zealand shares fell sharply on Monday led by a decline in health services stocks, while Asian peers lacked direction amid a mixed trade.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 1.7%, or 220.86 points, to close at 12,531.72.
Health services stocks were the main losers, followed by distribution services and electronic technology.
In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.6%, while the Shanghai SSE was little changed. Japanese markets were closed for the Emperor's Birthday.
In domestic news, the total volume of seasonally adjusted retail sales in New Zealand rose 0.9% to NZ$24.72 billion in the December 2024 quarter, following a flat movement in the prior three-month period, per Stats NZ data.
Credit card spending rose 1.3% month on month to NZ$4.62 billion in January following a 1.1% increase in December 2024, according to the Reserve Bank.
In corporate news, Chorus (NZE:CNU, ASX:CNU) fell almost 5% after it reported a loss per diluted share of NZ$0.02 in the fiscal first half, compared with earnings of NZ$0.01 per diluted share a year earlier.
Steel & Tube Holdings (NZE:STU) was up past 2% even though it logged a fiscal first-half diluted loss of NZ$0.062 per share, compared with earnings of NZ$0.031 per share a year earlier.
Elsewhere, Ryman Healthcare (NZE:RYM) launched a NZ$1 billion equity raise to "reset the balance sheet," comprising a NZ$313 million institutional placement and a NZ$688 million pro-rata accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer. The company requested a trading halt Monday.
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