Record close for NZX50 as F&P Healthcare buoys market

New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index didn’t quite touch an all-time high but did finish the trading session at a record close as heavyweight Fisher & Paykel Healthcare buoyed the local market in a broadly stronger day for trans-Tasman healthcare stocks.

Across the Tasman, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was stronger in late trading after a smaller increase in consumer prices than economists were picking cooled expectations for an imminent rate hike by the Reserve Bank of Australia, although the kiwi dollar remains near a 12-and-a-half year low against its Aussie counterpart.

Meanwhile, junior miners Manuka Resources, Minerals Exploration and Santana Minerals rallied as the price of gold continues to break new ground in the increasingly volatile global environment following the US strike to topple Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro.

And milk processors largely ignored the increase in dairy prices at the first Global Dairy Trade auction of the year, with the Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund nudging up and Synlait Milk unchanged.