This differs slightly from the international investment position, which suggests foreign interests own only around 28 percent of New Zealand assets. The lower proportion suggested by the international investment statistics reflects the fact that ownership of non-listed and unincorporated businesses tends to be rather lower than in publicly listed companies. (Australia is the largest inward investor with around 30 percent of total foreign investment.)
This is shown in the figure: due to small scale firms and private equity, the size of the stock market in New Zealand is very small, both absolutely and as a proportion of GDP. Of course some New Zealand firms list singly or jointly on the Australian exchange.