Yield stocks loose their lustre
The S&P/NZX 50 index dropped for a sixth session, down 79.34 points, or 0.8 percent, at 9,707.96. Within the index, 31 stocks fell, 14 gained, and five were unchanged. Turnover was $150.4 million.
Stocks across Asia were broadly weaker, following Wall Street's lead, as ongoing trade tensions between the US and China and a downgraded global growth outlook from the International Monetary Fund kept investors uneasy.
Property and utilities stocks, which typically pay reliable dividends, were the most traded stocks. A number of companies gave up recent gains after shedding rights to their recently announced dividend payments.
Several of those yield plays have been trading near records as investors who would usually seek stable returns in corporate bonds have sought higher returns in the low interest rate environment. The NZX50's average dividend yield of 4.83 percent is the third highest across Asia-Pacific benchmark indices tracked by Refinitiv.
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