New Zealand shares rose 34 points, or 0.3%, to 13,809 in Tuesday morning trade, extending the previous session’s gains and tracking overnight strength on Wall Street. The local market was buoyed by a rally in technology stocks and easing oil prices, amid hopes for progress in US–Iran peace talks. Softer oil prices helped improve sentiment by easing inflation worries and tempering expectations of further interest rate hikes.
Caution persisted, however, ahead of New Zealand’s unemployment figures due Wednesday, with the market expecting the jobless rate to edge up to 5.4% in Q2. Investors were also looking to a series of upcoming US data releases, including labor market reports, for clues on the US economic outlook.
Sector gains were led by energy, consumer staples, healthcare, and technology stocks. Notable movers included Ebos Group (up 1.9%), A2 Milk (1.0%), Infratil (1.0%), Channel Infrastructure (0.9%), Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (0.8%), and Venti Services Group (0.6%).
