The amount of corporate debt raised on the New Zealand stock exchange has fallen by nearly six percent from March last year, but that may be due to companies' books being in better shape.
In the NZX's latest monthly metrics, total listed individual debt securites stood at 85 in March, down 10.5 percent compared with the same month last year.
The value of that debt has fallen to $13.5 billion, or six percent of economic growth.
By contrast, the value of listed equities rose 24 percent from a year ago to $87.4 billion.
Harbour Asset Management portfolio manager Mark Brown said corporates are being more conservative about borrowing.
Total trades on the market during March stood at 121,258, up 49.3 percent, but the value of the trades acually fell 27.1 percent to $158 million.
