Friday rally drags NZX50 into positive territory for the week

New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index ended the week in positive territory as Fletcher Building led the benchmark higher on Friday after the strongest manufacturing activity reading in four years, and as Contact Energy and Meridian Energy came in for heavy trading after a clean energy index rebalancing.

ANZ Group Holdings posted the biggest weekly gain on the top 50, with the lender getting upgraded to a ‘buy’ by Citigroup analysts, and as better-than-expected earnings from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley sparked a recovery in financial stocks on Wall Street overnight after a cool sentiment towards the sector through much of the week.

Ryman Healthcare was at the bottom of the leaderboard on Friday as Forsyth Barr analysts kept their ‘neutral’ rating and target price on the retirement village operator unchanged after its trading update on Thursday, while Macquarie nudged up its target price on the stock.

Meanwhile, the kiwi dollar is heading for its first weekly gain against the Aussie since mid-December as a string of economic data show New Zealand might be poised to grow faster than some analysts were picking, potentially pushing the Reserve Bank to move earlier on interest rates than it intends.