Thin summer trading sees NZX50 dip; business confidence on the mend

New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index fell for a third day as typically light summer trading, with the local market missing a broadly stronger day across Asia and ignoring recovering business confidence in the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research’s latest quarterly survey.

Broker updates hung over both ends of the benchmark, with Ebos Group among those weighing on the NZX50 while Port of Tauranga posted the day’s biggest gain after getting a boost to its target price.

The kiwi dollar jumped against the yen after reports that Japan’s prime minister Sanae Takaichi plans to hold a snap election in an effort to boost her parliamentary majority to boost her expansionary fiscal plans.

Meanwhile, local miners such as Manuka Resources, New Talisman Gold Mines and Santana Minerals joined a global rally, following the surge in gold prices as investors flock to relatively safe assets after US President Donald Trump’s administration upped the ante on the Federal Reserve with the threat of a criminal indictment.