Hi, I'm new to NZ job market and started applying for few ICT jobs recently(I'm experienced professional abroad and recently came here and working already).

When the hiring managers call me, they are asking me some questions like what other jobs have you applied for? What happened to those jobs? Are there any job offers in progress? etc.

I'm quite hesitant to answer these questions frankly(I feel like telling them it's none of your business. Why do you want to know all these details?).
If I answer them like I've applied for some XYZ job and some other ABC job is in progress, I feel they may snub my application.
At the same time, I don't want to tell them like I've applied for few jobs but couldn't get through etc.
So, I'm just lying to them saying I started applying for jobs recently and I've applied for few of them but haven't heard from them yet etc.

I just want to understand the rationale behind this question from hiring manager.
What's the smart answer we need to give without denting our chances and without revealing much of these details.

How do you guys handle this question?