Market & Portfolio Update - April 2025

Global markets began April with some volatility as investors digested “Liberation Day” tariffs announced by the Trump administration. In particular, investors feared a tariff war would lead to higher inflation, lower global growth, and the potential erosion of the historic ‘safe haven’ status enjoyed by the US dollar. However, the markets recovered a significant portion of these losses following the announcement that all reciprocal tariffs except China’s would be delayed for 90 days. Due to the volatility, global markets were down -3.8% for the month.

The NZ share market proved to be less volatile than global markets but still ended April down -3.0% nonetheless, as the ever-evolving global political environment spooked investors.

Meanwhile in New Zealand, the Reserve Bank cut the Official Cash Rate another 0.25% to 3.50%. As this was widely expected, the announcement was a non-event for markets.

New Zealand and global Fixed Interest markets were up +1.1% and +0.8%, respectively, as investors retreated to safe haven assets during the tariff volatility.