17.12.202523:07:03UTC+00New Zealand Shares Linger at 2-Month Low

In Thursday morning trading, New Zealand's stock market experienced a modest decline, with the NZX 50 index dropping 22 points, or 0.2%, to close at 13,274. This marked the second consecutive session of losses, influenced by negative trends from Wall Street's overnight performance. Investor activity was largely subdued in anticipation of forthcoming U.S. inflation data. Additionally, ongoing challenges in the U.S. AI sector further diminished the appetite for risk. The NZX 50 lingered near its two-month low, mainly affected by downturns in the consumer non-durables, financial, and healthcare sectors. Nonetheless, the negative trajectory was slightly mitigated by robust Q3 GDP figures indicating that New Zealand's economy expanded by 1.1% quarter-on-quarter, a recovery from the 1% decline seen in Q2 and surpassing the anticipated 0.9% growth. Year-on-year, GDP increased by 1.3%, marking the first annual growth in five quarters and aligning with expectations. Among individual stocks, Tourism Holdings saw a 2.5% decrease, followed by Third Age Health Services with a 1.8% decline, Delegat Group down by 1.7%, and Infratil falling 1.5%. Investors are now looking forward to Friday's release of November trade figures and December's consumer sentiment data.