New Zealand shares rose 94 points, or 0.7%, to 13,940 in Friday morning trade, rebounding from losses in the previous session and mirroring overnight gains on Wall Street as US Treasury yields eased. The advance was led by financials, energy, materials, utilities, and healthcare stocks.
Investors remained cautious ahead of key data releases, including the US unemployment rate due later today, as well as China’s consumer and producer price figures and August trade data scheduled for next week. Domestically, attention is also turning to next week’s manufacturing PMI release, following a softening in factory activity in July.
Early movers on the upside included Infratil (up 2.4%), Briscoe Group (1.4%), Contact Energy (1.4%), EBOS Group (0.8%), Auckland International Airport (0.7%), A2 Milk (0.6%), Fisher & Paykel (0.5%), and Freightways Group (0.5%).
For the week, the benchmark index is on track for a 1.2% gain, partially reversing losses recorded in the previous month.
