Infratil, Meridian weigh on NZX50 as Asia rallies on ceasefire hopes

New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index missed a global rally on hopes that a ceasefire is on the way in the Middle East, with US President Donald Trump scheduled to deliver a speech about the operation in Iran on Thursday.

Meridian Energy and Infratil were the major drags on the local market as they gave back some of Tuesday’s gains, while property and energy stocks were broadly weaker.

Interest-rate sensitive tech stocks Serko and Gentrack were among the day’s biggest gainers, as government bond yields eased with economists holding their projections for the Reserve Bank to keep any interest rate hikes up its sleeve until the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Fletcher Building ended the day unchanged on an unusually large volume, after Statistics New Zealand figures showed residential building consents continued to grow through February, before the Middle East conflict exploded.