NZX50 climbs 1.8% this week on prospect of Middle East peace
The countdown is on to SpaceX’s debut.
Friday, June 12th 2026, 7:02PM
by Paul McBeth
New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index ended the week on a strong note as the US and Iran moved closer to a potential ceasefire after President Donald Trump called off planned strikes and said a deal could close as early as this weekend, pushing oil prices lower and reviving investors’ demand for riskier assets.
That comes ahead of the much-anticipated SpaceX debut after it raised US$75 billion in an initial public offering, while local favourite Rocket Lab extended its rally in afterhours trading after getting tapped to join the Nasdaq 100 index.
The a2 Milk Co led the local charge higher on both Friday and a weekly basis, with the infant formula exporter snapping a run of six weekly declines.
And ANZ Bank New Zealand chief Antonia Watson announced her exit at the top of the country’s biggest bank in September, after a six-year spell in charge.
Raring to go
The NZX50 jumped 197.71 points, or 1.5%, to 13,393.87, with 30 stocks gaining, 13 declining and seven unchanged. That took the weekly gain to 1.8% in a week of ups and downs as markets tracked the heightened volatility in the Middle East.
The breakthrough in negotiations, which had President Trump saying a deal could be done as early as this weekend, put investors in an ebullient mood as Asian stock markets carried on the rally on Wall Street, setting a strong foundation for the SpaceX debut. US-listed space stocks were broadly stronger ahead of Elon Musk’s conglomerate going public, with Virgin Galactic surging 22% overnight.
Local favourite Rocket Lab jumped 9.3% during normal trading, adding another 5.9% in afterhours trading after the New Zealand-founded space company was added to the Nasdaq 100 index from June 22.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was up 2% in late trading, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 3.8% and South Korea’s Kospi – which has been a winner in the artificial intelligence trade – soared 8.3%.
“Our market had a strong day on the back of the easing in US-Iran tensions and the fact that Trump – again I might add – said there’s going to be an agreement in the next few days,” said Peter McIntyre, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners. “Asia Pacific is generally pretty strong, and US futures look good heading into the SpaceX IPO opening.”
The a2 Milk Co led the NZX50 higher on Friday, climbing 10% to $7.27 and taking its weekly gain to 15% – the biggest gain on the benchmark for the week and a2’s strongest week since February last year.
“If there’s any return to normality in the world again, they’re likely to be one of the beneficiaries,” Craigs’ McIntyre said.
Future thoughts
The S&P/NZX 20 index futures contract for June climbed 0.7% to 7,530 with 40 lots traded for a value of $301,000, while the NZX20 gained 1.6% to 7,594.25.
Turnover across the main board was $154.4 million, of which Auckland International Airport accounted for almost $22 million as it rose 1.5% to $8.23 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare accounted for $21 million, gaining 1.7% to $39.45.
Infratil, which has been used as a local proxy for the AI trade given its investment in data centres, advanced 0.3% to $14.81, with $20.9 million of shares changing hands.
Among other leaders on the NZX50 on the day, Oceania Healthcare climbed 5.7% to 74 cents, Heartland Group Holdings increased 3.8% to $1.235 and Ebos Group gained 3.6% to $21.41.
Software companies Gentrack and Vista Group International were at the bottom of the leaderboard, down 3.7% at $3.68 and 2.6% at $2.21 respectively, while Property for Industry slipped 1.7% to $2.38.
The kiwi dollar held on to its gains through the day, trading at 58.25 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 57.98 cents, even as the yield on the 10-year government bond fell 9 basis points to 4.47%, matching its US equivalent.
The BNZ-BusinessNZ performance of manufacturing index showed industrial activity shrank last month, while Statistics New Zealand figures showed increased Chinese visitors boosted the number of international arrivals in April, while net inbound migration continued to grow.
Paul is a staff writer for Good Returns based in Wellington.
| « NZX50 climbs 1.8% this week on prospect of Middle East peace | NZX50 climbs 1.8% this week on prospect of Middle East peace » |
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