New Zealand shares fall most in a week; Australia closed

New Zealand shares slipped 0.5% on Tuesday, with financials and industrials leading the declines, even as trading remained subdued owing to the closure of equity markets in Australia for a public holiday.

The benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index slipped as much as 0.5% to 13,328.89 by 2230 GMT, its largest intraday decline since Jan. 19, in a low volume session that saw just 3.9 million shares change hands, compared with the 30-day average of 36.2 million shares.

On Monday, New Zealand confirmed its first case of COVID-19 in the community in months, triggering suspension of a travel bubble with Australia for 72 hours and denting investor sentiment.

Six out of nine major sectors in the benchmark traded in the red, with financials losing the most.

New Zealand-listed shares of Westpac Banking Corp and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group were among the top drags, losing 1% each.

In industrials, Auckland International Airport shed as much as 3.5%, while Air New Zealand was down more than a percent.

Among gainers, Synlait Milk advanced up to 3%, marking its biggest intraday jump this year after it hiked its milk price forecast for the 2021 season to NZ$7.20 per kilogram of milk solids (kgMS), up from a previous estimate of NZ$6.40 kgMS.