New Zealand shares ended lower on Monday while most Asian markets saw gains amid unsuccessful US-Iran peace talks.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 0.96% or 132.40 points to close at 13,721.98.
On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 0.1%, the Nasdaq lost 0.3%, while the Dow Jones was down 0.2%.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz slowed over the weekend following tanker attacks, as US-Iran negotiations to end the Middle East conflict hit an impasse, according to a Monday Reuters report, citing ship-tracking data from Kpler.
In domestic news, New Zealand's services sector held on to its expansion in July after the return to growth in June, according to the BNZ BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI).
Also, petrol and diesel prices in New Zealand fell 5.7% and over 12%, respectively, in July compared with the previous month, according to a Stats NZ selected price indexes report.
Further, the value of New Zealand electronic card transactions in July, in seasonally adjusted terms, rose NZ$9.81 billion from last year's NZ$9.54 billion, according to a report from Stats NZ.
Meanwhile, New Zealand first home buyers accounted for a record high market share of more than 28% of property purchases in the second quarter, according to a report by Trade Me Property.
In corporate news, a2 Milk Co. (ASX:A2M, NZE:ATM) logged NZ$0.325 in underlying basic earnings per share for fiscal 2026, compared with NZ$0.304 a year ago.
Synlait Milk (ASX:SM1, NZE:SML) noted the media reports regarding a "potential transaction" involving third parties and confirmed that it is not involved in any discussions with a2 Milk (ASX:A2M, NZE:ATM) or Fonterra (NZE:FCG) regarding the matters referred to in those reports.