NZ sharemarket lifts late as dairy stocks gain
The New Zealand sharemarket rose late on Wednesday to finish in positive territory, with Fonterra and a2 Milk making gains following a weak dairy auction.
Wednesday, December 3rd 2025, 7:25PM
by BusinessDesk
The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed up 0.59% or 79.77 points at 13,582.54 after 29.6 million shares, worth $117.38m, were traded.
The S&P/NZX 20 index was up 0.50%, closing at 7,757.40 points, while the S&P/NZX 10 index ended the day at 12,983.00 after rising 0.57%.
There were 72 gainers on the main board and 63 decliners.
Craigs Investment Partners investment director Mark Lister said it was quiet across the board.
Market subdued
“The US was obviously up overnight, but the market’s still a little bit subdued after all the excitement of last week’s official cash rate (OCR) cut, and markets are still getting their head around the prospect of that being the end of the OCR cuts,” Lister said.
“We’ve seen a rebound in wholesale interest rates, which tells you that markets are of the view that the economy is improving and that the next move from the Reserve Bank will probably be up rather than down.”
Fonterra and a2 Milk’s share prices rose despite the result of the latest global dairy auction, in which prices fell for the eighth consecutive auction.
Index down 4.3%
The index fell 4.3% from the last sale on Nov 19, with the average winning price coming to US$3,507 (NZ$6,095)/tonne, a drop of roughly 23% since its peak in May.
“That was the biggest fall in three months. It’s not a disaster for the agricultural sector, but dairy prices are back to where they were two years ago.”
Fonterra’s share price lifted 1.22% or 7c per unit to $5.83, while a2’s share price lifted 1.41% or 15c to $10.80.
Elsewhere, Auckland International Airport fell 1.36% or 11c to $7.98, Ebos Group fell 0.38% or 11c to $28.50, and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare lifted 1.51% or 57c to $38.38.
The gentailers also lifted, with Meridian Energy rising 1.96% or 11c to $5.72, Contact Energy lifted 0.96% or 9c to $9.44, and Mercury Energy up 1.11% or 7c to $6.37.
Tomorrow Stats NZ will release data on building volumes in the September quarter, with Lister believing the release will be “the next piece of the puzzle” for September’s GDP result releasing later in December.
International markets
Wall Street stocks resumed their upward climb on Tuesday (US time) after the previous day’s stutter, as markets weighed expected additional interest rate cuts and favourable seasonal dynamics against valuation concerns.
After mixed sessions on Asian and European bourses, New York indices spent the day in positive territory, veering between modest and larger gains.
The broad-based S&P 500 ended up about 0.3%.
Investors are awaiting Wednesday’s monthly report on private-sector jobs, followed by the inflation figures for September on Friday.
– Additional reporting AFP
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