New Zealand shares fell on Tuesday as US tariffs kicked in, triggering retaliation from Canada and fueling a market bloodbath.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index was down 0.6%, or 80.34 points, to close at 12,469.71.

Consumer durables, consumer services, and miscellaneous were the biggest losers.

Shares in Asia were also broadly in the red, with the Nikkei 225 down 1.7% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng losing 0.5%. The Shanghai SSE was flat.

Overnight, the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 2.6%, the S&P 500 fell 1.8%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.5%.

Markets are reacting negatively to the imposition of 25% tariffs on imported Canadian and Mexican goods following a month-long reprieve. In response, Canada bared retaliatory tariffs against $155 billion of American goods, as announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau late Monday.

The US also plans a 10% tariff on imported Chinese goods on top of existing ones.

In domestic news, New Zealand's seasonally adjusted new dwellings consented grew 2.6% month on month to 2,768 units in January, following a 5.6% decline in December 2024, per Stats NZ data.

Barfoot & Thompson's residential sales volumes rose across most of its focus areas in January compared with the year-ago period, data from the real estate agency showed.

In corporate news, Santana Minerals (NZE:SMI, ASX:SMI) updated its mineral resource estimate for its Rise and Shine deposit in the Bendigo-Ophir gold project. It raised the indicated resources' grade by 7% to 2.52 grams per tonne of gold and by 6.4% in contained gold ounces.

Property For Industry (NZE:PFI) finished 1% higher after it extended its partnership with Yardi to centralize document management.