Lister said he was still positive about the outlook for the New Zealand market, but it won\u2019t be plain sailing. \u201cIt\u2019s such an interesting time with the geopolitics, US mid-term elections and the election here. You are still going to see some ups and downs during the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cInvestors are having to rethink where they want to put their money, and there\u2019s been a rotation away from tech stocks and away from the US to Japan and Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lister said the dual-listed banking stocks Westpac (down 92c, or 1.97%, to $45.83) and ANZ (down 54c to $43.36) will report later this week, and their results would be interesting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey tend to single out the performance of their New Zealand business and how the economy is going. We can learn a lot about the bank results and what is happening out there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
ANZ Research expects no change in the Official Cash Rate<\/a> (OCR), currently at 2.25%, when the Reserve Bank of NZ (RBNZ) meets next week. But the OCR track will be followed closely.<\/p>\n ANZ said gross domestic product was stronger than the RBNZ expected in the third quarter and that fourth-quarter indicators have been solid.<\/p>\n Consumers price index (CPI) inflation unexpectedly lifted to sit outside the target band in the fourth quarter in a broad-based surprise. On the other hand, the housing and labour markets do not appear inflationary, suggesting the medium-term outlook remains on track.<\/p>\n \u201cRelative to current market pricing, the Reserve Bank\u2019s track is likely to be considerably less aggressive,\u201d ANZ said.<\/p>\n In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a new high after gaining 0.04% to 50,135.87 points; the S&P 500 was up 0.47% to 6,964.82; and the Nasdaq Composite increased 0.9% to 23,238.67, led by Oracle up 9.64% to US$156.59 (NZ$259.31) and Nvidia up 2.5% to US$190.04.<\/p>\n At 6pm NZ time, the S&P\/ASX 200 was up 0.18% to 8885.8 points; the Japanese Nikkei 225 had risen 2.23% to 57,618.29; and the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index had gained 0.54% to 27,173.55.<\/p>\n Local stocks<\/p>\n Market leader Fisher & Paykel Healthcare drove the local market higher after increasing 70c or 1.78% to $39.98 on trade worth $12.9m.<\/p>\n Mainfreight was up $1 to $65; Infratil collected 14c to $11.18; Port of Tauranga gained 13c to $8; Fletcher Building increased 8c or 2.19% to $3.73; Vulcan Steel rose 46c or 5.98% to $8.15; and Summerset added 12c to $11.25.Vista Group rebounded 7c or 3.68% to $1.97; CDL Investments increased 4.5c or 5.63% to 84.5c; and Pacific Edge rose 2c or 9.76% to 22.5c, having gained nearly 20% in the last two trading days.<\/p>\n Mercury Energy was down 12c or 1.86% to $6.34; Serko shed 6c or 2.35% to $2.49; SkyCity decreased 2c or 2.21% to 88.5c; Comvita declined 2.5c or 3.62% to 66.5c, and Freightways was down 5c to $14.95 after reaching an intraday low of $14.40.In the retail sector, Briscoe declined 19c or 3.85% to $4.74, and Hallenstein Glasson was down 13c to $10.<\/p>\n