New Zealand shares advanced 128 points, or 0.9%, to 13,974 on Friday, snapping the previous session’s decline. The rise came amid signals that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand is likely to keep interest rates on hold at its October meeting, following hikes in July and September. Assistant Governor Karen Silk indicated the central bank is more inclined to wait until December before tightening policy again.
The broader market mirrored Thursday’s upbeat tone on Wall Street, supported by easing US Treasury yields. Still, 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.
Gains were led by consumer discretionary, technology, financial, real estate, and healthcare stocks. Notable movers included Hallenstein Glasson (up 6.3%), Gentrack Group (3.8%), Mainfreight (3.9%), Channel Infrastructure (2.3%), Fisher & Paykel (1.2%), Freightways Group (0.9%), and Westpac Banking Corp. (0.8%). For the week, the index gained 1.5%, partially recovering from a decline in the previous week.
