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New Zealand shares rose on Thursday as most Asian indexes followed Wall Street’s Wednesday rally helped by bank earnings.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index edged up 0.6% or 81.70 points to close at 13,389.10.
The benchmark S&P 500 gained 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.7% with the Dow Jones remaining little changed.
Meanwhile, the gold spot price reached the $4,200 level on Wednesday.
Jim Bolger, who served as New Zealand’s prime minister from 1990 to 1997 and played a key role in advancing reconciliation with the country’s Indigenous Maori people, has died at the age of 90, his family announced on Wednesday, according to a Wednesday Reuters report.
In domestic news, New Zealand’s agriculture sector is benefiting from a strong mix of high prices, a weaker exchange rate, and solid production, said ANZ in a Thursday report.
Also, food prices in New Zealand rose 4.1% on an annual basis in September, marking the smallest yearly increase since April, according to a Stats NZ selected price indexes report.
Meanwhile, the cost to build a standard single-storey brick and tile home in New Zealand rose 0.4% in the third quarter due to a sustained slowdown in construction cost growth, according to the Cordell Construction Cost Index, compiled by property data company Cotality.
In corporate news, PGG Wrightson (NZE:PGW) appointed Independent Director John Nichol as independent chair. The company’s shares closed down by 1%.
New Zealand King Salmon Investments (NZE:NZK, ASX:NZK) appointed Katie Bennett as interim chief financial officer, effective Nov. 28, succeeding Ben Rodgers. The company’s New Zealand shares finished more than 2% lower.