NZX50 stays positive as jobs figures offer something for everyone
Gentrack, Vista and Serko joined the global tech rout.
Wednesday, February 4th 2026, 6:54PM
by Paul McBeth
New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index kept its fingertips in positive territory as power companies Contact Energy, Mercury NZ and Meridian Energy did the heavy lifting in keeping the benchmark’s head above water in a broadly softer day across Asia.
Local tech stocks Gentrack, Vista Group International and Serko were at the bottom of the NZX50, joining the sharp selloff of software companies – including a 15% slump for ASX-listed Xero – after Anthropic’s push into legal services reminded investors about the potential disruption artificial intelligence poses to a wide range of sectors.
Meanwhile, Statistics New Zealand’s employment figures showed the unemployment rate unexpectedly nudged up to 5.4% in the December quarter, as the economic recovery drove stronger than expected jobs growth and lured more out-of-work people back into job-hunting, boosting the participation rate.
And outside the NZX50, Synlait Milk tumbled 18% after the milk processor warned its first-half underlying earnings will be around breakeven as it had to stock up on raw milk to rebuild inventories.
Hair’s breadth
The NZX50 increased almost 2 points to 13,423.52, with 22 stocks gaining, 21 declining, and six unchanged.
Turnover across the main board was $171 million, of which Fisher & Paykel Healthcare accounted for $35.9 million as it rose 0.7% to $40.02.
The local bourse fared better than most markets across Asia, as the tech slump on Wall Street filtered throughout the day, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index down 0.7% in late trading and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipping 0.4%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was up 1% in late trading, with energy stocks and miners leading the gains, following higher prices for Brent crude oil and gold.
New Zealand’s electricity generator-retailers kept the NZX50 afloat, with Contact Energy up 2.8% at $9.57, Mercury NZ gaining 2.2% to $6.44 and Meridian Energy advancing 1.6% to $5.71.
Heartland Group Holdings led the NZX50 higher, rising 3.2% to $1.28, while Westpac Banking Corp advanced 2.2% to $46.63 and ANZ Group Holdings increased 1.4% to $43.32.
Tech stocks tumbled around the world after AI-startup Anthropic added new tools for legal users of its Cowork assistant, initially denting legal publishers and data services firms, before sapping demand across the wider sector.
Across the Tasman, Xero was down 15% at A$81.85 in late trading, while local software firms were at the bottom of the leaderboard with Gentrack sliding 6.6% to $6.62, Vista declining 4.4% to $1.72 and Serko decreasing 3.5% to $2.75. Outside the NZX50, Eroad slumped 10% to $1.03 and Black Pearl Group dropped 3.3% to $1.16.
“The market is asking some very valid questions of the software sector,” said Mark Lister, investment director at Craigs Investment Partners. “It’s possible some of the selling is overdone, but there will be some degree of disruption by AI to some of those businesses.”
Sour cream
Outside the benchmark index, Synlait Milk slumped 18% to 52 cents after the milk processor said first-half margins were squeezed by its increased purchases of raw milk to restock inventories, saying first-half underlying earnings will be between breaking even and $5 million.
Separately, prices rose at the latest Global Dairy Trade auction, with the GDT price index up 6.7% with the average winning price of US$3,830 a tonne, with gains across all products. Whole milk powder prices gained 5.3% to US$3,614 a tonne.
The a2 Milk Co fell 1.2% to $10, while Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund units slipped 0.5% to $8.06.
Stock market operator NZX was down 0.7% at $1.41 after its latest monthly operating metrics showed a 17% increase in the value traded on the local exchange in January from a year earlier on a smaller number of transactions.
Spark New Zealand was the most heavily traded stock on the day, with a volume of 2.5 million, with the price unchanged at $2.25.
The kiwi dollar was largely unchanged by Statistics New Zealand figures showing the unemployment rate unexpected rose to 5.4% in the December quarter, due largely to an increase in the participation rate as the economic recovery starts luring people back into the work force. Quarterly employment growth of 0.5% was also ahead of expectations.
The kiwi traded at 60.32 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 60.37 cents yesterday, and was at 85.94 Australian cents from 85.91 cents.
Mark Smith, an economist at ASB Bank, said the jobs data were generally weaker than expected, although not as bad as the headline figure, with a large amount of spare capacity still in the economy, and won’t concern the Reserve Bank.
“The unfolding economic recovery should see excess labour capacity gradually erode with the unemployment rate moving towards the 4%-to-4.5% Goldilocks zone by the end of next year,” Smith said in a note.
Recruitment firm Accordant was unchanged at 31 cents in its busiest trading day since Jan 5.
Paul is a staff writer for Good Returns based in Wellington.
| « NZX50 joins Asia rally as it edges higher; kiwi slides vs Aussie as RBA hikes |
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