FX.co ★ New Zealand Shares Inch Higher to Begin Week

The NZX 50 experienced a slight uplift, increasing by 0.2% or 25 points, to reach 13,509 during Monday morning's trading session. This rise marks a pause in the losses seen over the last two sessions and mirrors the upward trend on Wall Street observed on Friday. The optimism was largely fueled by anticipations of Federal Reserve interest rate reductions in the upcoming week, encouraged by the latest easing in PCE inflation data. The sectors leading this upward movement were energy, consumer staples, and healthcare. Meanwhile, market participants were also closely monitoring the impending release of economic reports from China, New Zealand's principal trading partner. These reports include key trade figures and inflation metrics such as consumer and producer prices. Nevertheless, negative performances within the technology, financial, and industrial sectors tempered the overall index gains. Locally, investor focus was also on the forthcoming business and services PMI figures for November, expected later this week, following a positive trend in the previous month. Among the notable early risers were A2 Milk, up 0.9%, Mercury NZ, which increased by 0.8%, Fisher & Paykel and Ryman Healthcare, both advancing by 0.7%, ANZ Group which rose by 0.4%, and Ebos Group, edging up by 0.2%.