Apparel spending was particularly down, declining by 1.9% or $6m, reflecting similar messaging from key retailers such as Briscoes and The Warehouse.

KMD Brands, whose businesses include outdoor clothing retailer Kathmandu and surfwear brand Rip Curl saw its shares fall 1.37% to $0.36, down 0.5c with 147,655 shares trading hands to the value of $52,082.57.

Devon Funds head of retail Greg Smith said Kiwis still need a bit of encouragement to open their wallets.

“Obviously, we’ve got people falling off high rates of interest later in the year and hopefully more rate cuts to come, with another rate decision in about two weeks,” Smith said.

“I think things are better than they were, the sentiments are better than it was, but it’s coming off a fairly depressed space.”

Despite the downbeat spending stats The Warehouse Group saw its share price rise, increasing 1.22% today to $0.83, up 1c with 115,485 shares trading hands to the value of $93,982.24.

Shares in Stride Property had the largest movement today, with its share price falling 1.69% to $1.16, down 2c with 4,397,304 shares trading hands to the value of $5,103,058.79.

Smith said that the sentiment regarding trade relations has markedly improved from last week.

“There’s still a lot of water to fly under the bridge with respect to how these trade agreements finally pan out, but the upshot is investors are taking the positives.

“There has been quite a decent recovery since the start of April. The S&P 500 was down 17%. Now if you look at the US markets, we’re now back in the black.”

From the NZ perspective, Smith said investors would be keenly awaiting the start of earnings season this Friday, as that allowed the market to hear how the economy is faring from those directly participating in it.

Wall Street stocks mostly rose Tuesday after data showed US inflation easing in April, extending the market’s positive momentum on the improving outlook for trade relations with major partners.

The United States consumer price index eased to 2.3% in April from a year ago, a tick below the 2.4% figure recorded in March.

Some analysts cautioned that it was still too early to see the implications of US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, some of which have been rolled back or suspended.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index led major indices, jumping 1.6% to 19,010.08.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.7% to 5886.65, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% to 42,140.43 after weakness in UnitedHealth Group stocks.

– Additional reporting AFP

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.