New Zealand Shares Fall; Meridian Energy Retail Contracted Sales Volumes Rise in May
New Zealand shares ended lower on Monday despite a broad-based rise in Asian shares after a Middle East peace deal was finally confirmed.The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 0.25%, or 33.28 points, to close at 13,360.59.US and Iranian officials said they had reached a framework agreement to end the conflict, lift the U.S. blockade of Iran, and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran's nuclear program remains subject to further negotiations, Reuters reported on Sunday."The prospect of a sustained fall in energy prices changes the conversation for central banks just ahead of a flurry of policy decisions," said Sean Callow, a senior FX analyst at ITC Markets, as quoted by ReutersIn domestic news, New Zealand's services sector contracted further in May as weak consumer demand and rising costs continued to weigh on activity, according to a statement by BusinessNZ.Also, supplier costs for food supermarkets in New Zealand rose in May, marking an increase in the pace of growth after half a year of a slowdown, Infometrics said.Further, New Zealand's electronic card spending rose 2.2% month over month to NZ$9.85 billion in May on a seasonally-adjusted basis, compared with the 1.9% decrease recorded in the previous month, according to data from Stats NZMeanwhile, the volume of national home sales in New Zealand fell 12.6% year over year in May to 6,523, while the median sale price ticked 1.3% higher to NZ$775,000, according to data by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand.In corporate news, Meridian Energy's (ASX:MEZ, NZE:MEL) retail contracted sales volumes rose to 860 gigawatt hours (GWh) in May from 798 GWh a year earlier.Air New Zealand (NZE:AIR, ASX:AIZ) said Saturday it expects services in and out of Wellington airport to mostly start operating as scheduled on Saturday, June 13, following a fire incident on the night of Friday, June 12.