NZ shares fall from record as global markets come off the boil; Mercury drops

The S&P/NZX Index declined 13.8 points, or 0.1 percent. to 9,399.69, having hit a record yesterday. Within the index, 24 stocks fell, 22 rose and four were unchanged. Turnover was $128.2 million, although just six companies traded on volumes of more than 1 million.

Equity markets across Asia were broadly weaker, with Australia's S&P/ASX Index down 0.2 percent in late trading and South Korea's Kospi 200 Index falling 0.6 percent. China's Shanghai Composite Index bucked the trend, up 0.1 percent. Stocks on Wall Street fell overnight, with investors having factored in the outcome of a positive trade deal between the US and China. Fat Prophets anticipates there could be a mild sell-off in March.

Grant Williamson, a director at Hamilton Hindin Greene, said he "wouldn't rate the reporting period very highly - not even a five-out-of-ten - but the market's still up", referring to the just-completed corporate earnings season.

Mercury led the local market lower, falling 3.4 percent to $3.67, on an unusually high volume of 6.1 million shares, almost 10-times its 90-day average. Mercury hit a record $3.80 yesterday, as investors rally around defensive stocks such as utilities that typically pay regular dividends.