“There’s been a fair bit of selling ahead of that, given that there have been many tens of millions of shares to be sold, that seems to have abated so far today,” Goodson said.

Meridian Energy also saw a large volume of trades at 963,732 worth $5.7m with its price rising by 11c or 1.89% to $5.93.

In retail, KMD Brands shares fell late in the day, declining by 2.5c or 5.68% to 41.5c, after 440,640 shares were traded valued at $190,365.53.

Michael Hill’s share price also dipped late in the day by 2c or 3.08% to 63c, as raiders who robbed Michael Hill’s retail store in Auckland’s Westfield St Lukes were arrested.

Goodson said that while the New Zealand market was essentially drifting, there was interest in an inflation update across the ditch.

“They had the release of some inflation data for November and it was a fraction higher than expected at the headline, but it was lower than expected at the underlying level,” Goodson said.

“It came in at 3.2% underlying and I think market expectations were about 3.4% for the year. So the market was pretty flat and is now almost 1%, which seems like a fairly strong reaction to that.”

Trimmed mean inflation was 3.2% in November, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. Although the figure was lower than October’s 3.5%, it took underlying inflation back to where it was in September.

Goodson believes Australians are hoping they will get a rate cut in February, whereas the market had previously been picking a May interest rate cut.

He said that healthcare stocks in the US are strong at the moment because of a pickup in flu and Covid-19 numbers, with Fisher & Paykel Healthcare reacting late in the day.

Fisher & Paykel shares rose 23c or 0.60% to $38.26, with 376,989 shares traded at a value of $14,398,762.78.

Retirement village operator Ryman Healthcare also reported a slight bump, up 8c or 1.72% to $4.73.

Auckland International Airport shares fell by 26c or 2.96% to $8.53, while Steel and Tube Holdings fell by 4c or 4.71% to 81c a share.

Goodson said that the New Zealand market had a weak lead from the US market, where the Nasdaq was down 1.9% and the S&P 500 down 1.1%.

US survey data rekindled inflation concerns and rising bond yields helped pull the rug out from under a rally on Wall Street on Tuesday.

US stocks finished firmly lower, while yields on the popular 10-year US Treasury bonds rose.

“A much stronger-than-expected rise in US services prices sent shivers through US stocks,” said market analyst Axel Rudolph at online trading platform IG.

– Additional reporting AFP

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