New Zealand shares declined for a second straight session this week as investors tracked losses on Wall Street amid continued market jitters over the scale of the impact of US tariffs.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 1.3%, or 161.42 points, to close at 12,249.55.

Barring industrial services, all sectors were in the red, led by a 3.6% slump in health technology stocks.

In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.7%, while the Shanghai SSE and Japan's Nikkei 225 were broadly flat.

US benchmark indexes fell further overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 1.1%, the S&P 500 declining 0.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.2%.

In the latest tariff saga, US President Donald Trump paused a plan to double the tariff on Canadian steel and metal imports to 50% after the Canadian province of Ontario halted its own 25% surcharge on electricity exports to the US.

In domestic news, New Zealand's seasonally adjusted spending via electronic cards was flat month on month in February at NZ$9.24 billion, in line with its movement in January, Stats NZ data showed Wednesday.

Meanwhile, spending on ANZ-issued cards grew 1% month on month in February but was flat compared with the year-earlier period, ANZ Research reported Tuesday.

Elsewhere, the Light Traffic Index rose 0.4% month on month in February and by 0.1% on the year-ago period, while the Heavy Traffic Index dropped 0.2% from the prior month and was up 4.9% on an annual basis, ANZ Research said in a separate report.

In corporate news, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (NZE:FPH, ASX:FPH) launched the F&P Nova Nasal mask in Australia and New Zealand for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. The company finished almost 5% lower.

Spark New Zealand (ASX:SPK, NZE:SPK) expanded its strategic partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, moving to a variable model for IT infrastructure by using the HPE GreenLake cloud. The company lost about 1% at market close.