NZX Flat As Gold Roars

The New Zealand sharemarket staged a late recovery yesterday on a sluggish trading day, and it was overshadowed by the extraordinary gold rally as the price broke through the $US5,000 mark for the first time. The S&P/NZX 50 Index reached an intraday low of 13,403.67 but had a sharp rise in the last half-hour of the brokers’ matching session to close at 13,460.74, up 12.5 points or 0.09%. Volumes were low because of Auckland Anniversary Day, and the Australian market was closed for Australia Day. There were 52 gainers and 80 decliners on the main board with 17.25 million shares worth $54.48m changing hands.

Grant Williamson, investment adviser with Hamilton Hindin Greene, said: “It was a pretty quiet trading day. The Asian markets were not looking strong and sellers took over in the afternoon.”  The NZ dollar reached a three-month high against the American greenback, trading at US59.60c. The gold price increased 2.1% to a record high of US$5,083 (NZ$8,521) an ounce, extending an historic rally as investors sought the safe-haven asset amid rising geopolitical tensions and global financial risks. Williamson said gold has had “quite an amazing run and some analysts are saying it’s not over yet. I guess the world uncertainty is boosting gold, but a number of central banks have been buying up gold and this underpins the rally. “There are a number of gold bulls out there, and some are saying ‘If you think you’ve missed out on the rally, you are not too late’.” The gold price surged 64% last year with China continuing its gold-buying spree for a 14th month in December and record inflows into exchange-traded funds. Goldman Sachs has lifted its year-end gold price forecast to US$5,400 an ounce, up from US$4,900, while another US commentator has said the price could reach US$6,400.

Back home, Santana Minerals, which wants to work the Bendigo-Ophir gold mine in Central Otago, fell 18.5c or 13.75% to $1.16 on trade worth $5.53m after a suggestion that the consenting process under the fast-track regime may take longer than expected. Submitters, including the Otago Regional Council, said that because of the complexities, technical issues and many approvals still required, it is not possible to fast-track the mining permit in the time requested, or even in the extended time. The panel considering the application for resource consent application has not yet confirmed the start of the hearing, although it was expected to be Feb 11. Fellow gold miner Manuka Resources increased 3c or 12.5% to 27c, benefiting from the surge in the gold price. Minerals Exploration was up 0.005c or 1.75% to 29c, and New Talisman Gold Mines edged up 0.001c or 5.55% to 2.3c.

Ebos Group gained 36c to $26.89. Williamson said the stock was firmer instead of selling off in the afternoon because of the lack of Australian sellers “who were at the beach”. ANZ Banking Group declined 73c or 1.73% to $41.40; a2 Milk slipped a further 10c to $9.56; Freightways decreased 19c to $14.13; Port of Tauranga shed 7c to $7.90; and Briscoe Group was down 13c or 2.53% to $5.01. In the energy sector, Meridian was down 10c or 1.75% to $5.60 and Vector decreased 6c to $4.84, while Contact was up 11c to $9.36 and Mercury gained 2c to $6.37. Kiwifruit grower and packer Seeka was down 12c or 2.62% to $4.46; and Colonial Motor Co decreased 11c to $8.09. Market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 29c to $38.95; SkyCity increased 2c or 2.11% to 97c; and Scott Technology was up 10c or 3.57% to $2.90. Winton Land gained 7c or 3.5% to $2.07; Green Cross Health rose 7c or 6.25% to $1.19; and ikeGPS was up 3c or 2.73% to $1.07

Source: Business Desk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 72 points higher at 8935.

Local markets were closed on Monday 26 January 2026 due to public holiday.

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:

U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA gained 0.6% to 49,412.40, the S&P 500 added 0.5% to 6,950.23 and the Nasdaq climbed 0.4% to 23,601.36.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Arista Networks Inc ANET surging 5.41%, Datadog Inc DDOG jumped 5.09%, and Baker Hughes Co BKR lifted 4.38%.

The biggest decliners were The Trade Desk Inc TTD which dropped 7.54%, Intel Corp INTC fell 5.72%, and Darden Restaurants Inc DRI lost 4.71%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.1% to 4,132.61 and the Shenzhen Composite Index slipped 0.9% to 2,720.85.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 0.1% to 26,765.52.

Japanese shares ended lower. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.8% to 52,885.25.

India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX dropped 0.9% to 81,537.70.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index added 0.1% to 10,148.85. In Europe, shares closed mixed. The Germany's DAX gained 0.1% to 24,933.08, and the France's CAC 40 fell 0.1% to 8,131.15