New Zealand shares edged up 42 points, or 0.3%, to 13,492 on Tuesday morning, rebounding from a subdued prior session. Gains in logistics and healthcare led the advance, offsetting declines in consumer services and transport.
Sentiment improved on the back of Wall Street’s positive performance on Monday, ahead of a busy week of U.S. corporate earnings and key economic releases. Locally, traders were also looking ahead to upcoming data, including January PMI, December visitor arrivals, and Q1 business inflation expectations.
The Reserve Bank will hold its first policy meeting of 2026 next week, with markets widely expecting no change to the cash rate.
In China, New Zealand’s largest trading partner, foreign exchange reserves climbed to their highest level since 2015, rising for a seventh consecutive month as the central bank extended its gold-buying program for a 15th straight month. However, concerns about potential global disruption risks from artificial intelligence limited further gains in the local market.
Among early movers, Third Age Health Services rose 2.1%, Property for Industry gained 1.8%, Vector Ltd. added 1.0%, and AFT Pharma advanced 0.8%.