Meridian buoys NZX 50 as investors weigh AI spend and oil prices
Mercury is getting into the data centre business.
Thursday, July 23rd 2026, 6:41PM
by Paul McBeth
New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index was among the gainers in a mixed day across Asia, with Meridian Energy powering the local board higher as investors weighed rising oil prices and the accelerating spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Channel Infrastructure led the NZX 50 higher with the import terminal a beneficiary of elevated fuel costs, while courier operator Freightways was among the day’s leaders.
Mercury NZ was unchanged after taking a minority stake in data centre investor Datagrid Holding Group NZ, while Genesis Energy declined after saying a warmer June quarter meant its annual earnings would be at the bottom end of its guidance.
And the major Australian banks outperformed on the ASX as stronger-than-expected jobs data stoked expectations for another rate hike by the Reserve Bank of Australia and as challenger bank Macquarie Group surprised with a changing of the guard coming in November.
Juggling act
The NZX 50 climbed 32.13 points, or 0.2%, to 13,795.31, with 27 stocks gaining, 17 declining and six unchanged. The S&P/NZX 20 index futures contract for September fell 0.3% to 7,727, with 180 lots traded for a value of $1.4 million, while the NZX 20 increased 0.2% to 7,792.98.
Turnover across the main board was $148 million, of which Auckland International Airport accounted for $21.7 million as it dipped 0.1% to $8.57.
Stock markets across Asia were mixed as investors were unnerved by the AI spending programmes of Alphabet and Tesla, while also weighing up the heightened conflict in the Middle East as Brent crude futures climbed 2% to US$95.93 a barrel at 5pm in Auckland.
Singapore’s Straits Times Index was down 0.7% in late trading, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.7% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 1.3%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index pared back earlier gains to be up 0.5% in late trading after surprisingly strong jobs growth in June stoked expectations for another rate increase by the RBA.
The kiwi dollar dropped to 82.94 Australian cents from 83.25 cents yesterday, and traded at 58.18 US cents from 58.27 cents.
“Our market’s really driven by earnings, interest rates and the Middle East and I don’t see that theme going away,” said Peter McIntyre, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners.
“We’ve been in and out of the green all day.”
Imported gains
Channel Infrastructure led the NZX 50 higher on the day, up 4.6% at $3.42. The import terminal’s income is linked to producer price inflation and tends to rise on higher fuel costs.
Meanwhile, Freightways advanced 3.2% to $14.35 and retailer Hallenstein Glasson Holdings was up 2.8% at $10.59.
Index heavyweight Meridian provided the biggest tailwind for the NZX 50 as it rose 1.8% to $5.77 in a mixed day for the power companies after Genesis said its annual earnings would be at the lower end of guidance. Genesis fell 0.8% to $2.58 and Contact Energy declined 0.4% to $9.06.
Mercury was unchanged at $6.79 after it invested US$30 million in Datagrid for a 13% stake of the data centre developer. Mercury had already signed a power supply option agreement with Datagrid in March.
Tourism Holdings increased 0.4% to $2.87 after the rental campervan operator raised its earnings guidance for the June year, and said it was growing more confident about forward bookings in the coming months.
Air New Zealand was unchanged at 44 cents.
The dual-listed banks gained on both sides of the Tasman, with Westpac Banking Corp up 2% at $44.20 and ANZ Group Holdings rising 1.9% to $43.50 on the stronger jobs outlook in Australia. Meanwhile, Macquarie slipped 0.7% on the ASX after announcing the departure of chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake in November, with head of banking Greg Ward named as her successor.
Gentrack posted the steepest decline on the NZX 50, down 5.2% at $3.47, while Napier Port Holdings fell 2.7% to $3.63 and Argosy Property slid 2.3% to $1.05 on a volume of 3.8 million shares, the most for the day.
Outside the benchmark index, Trade Window Holdings was unchanged at 18 cents after reporting a 17% lift in annual recurring revenue in the June quarter, while Locate Technologies was unchanged at 4.4 cents as the tech company and crypto treasury firm increased revenue and improved its operating cashflow in the June quarter, and expanded its Bitcoin holdings.
Paul is a staff writer for Good Returns based in Wellington.
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