New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index joined a rally across Asia as oil prices fell amid optimism that a damaged Saudi Arabian pipeline won’t crimp supply as much as feared, spurring gains for local exporters such as Mainfreight and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare.

Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund units advanced after the dairy cooperative raised its forecast milk price ahead of reporting its annual result on Thursday, while infant formula firm a2 Milk Co and smaller processor Synlait Milk also rose.

Commercial landlords such as Vital Healthcare Property Trust and Precinct Properties NZ were at the bottom of the leaderboard after ANZ economists added another two hikes to their forecast track for the Reserve Bank’s official cash rate.

And the ASX turned to former NZX chief Mark Peterson to round out a recent executive shuffle, which will see the Kiwi market veteran oversee the Australian stock exchange’s clearing and settlement arm.

Strong start

The NZX 50 rose 82.06 points, or 0.6%, to 13,821.2, with 28 stocks gaining, 17 declining and five unchanged. The S&P/NZX 20 index advanced 0.6% to 7,633.67, with the futures contract untraded for the day.

Turnover across the main board was $112.5 million, of which Auckland International Airport accounted for $13.4 million as the country’s major gateway ended the day unchanged at $8.42.

Stocks across Asia were broadly stronger as Brent crude oil futures fell 2.2% to US$101.64 a barrel at 5pm in Auckland as supply concerns faded, and as US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said he held very successful talks with his Chinese counterpart ahead of a presidential summit this week.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was one of the laggards across Asia, dipping into the red in late trading, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.6% and South Korea’s Kospi – which has become a measure of confidence in the artificial intelligence trade – was up 1.6%. Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday.

“Oil’s come back which has helped shares across Asia, and US futures are higher,” said Peter McIntyre, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners. “It’s been a relatively good day overall.”

Exporters were among those driving New Zealand’s benchmark higher, with F&P Healthcare up 0.9% at $44.55, Mainfreight advancing 2.5% to $66.71, a2 Milk rising 4.5% to $8.41 in the infant formula firm’s biggest daily gain in a month, and Skellerup Holdings climbing 3.5% to $7.66.

Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund units advanced 1.4% to $8.26 after the cooperative lifted the midpoint of its forecast farmgate payment by 25 cents to $9.50 per kilogram of milk solids on recent gains in whole milk powder prices. The cooperative reports its annual result on Thursday. Synlait advanced 2.6% to 40 cents.

Tower rose 0.3% to $1.97 after the insurer said its renewed reinsurance premiums would cost 9.5% of gross written premium, down from 10.6% in the September 2026 financial year.

Heartland Group Holdings increased 1.2% to $1.26, after its merger target TSB Bank was warned by the Financial Markets Authority for overcharging about 7,300 business customer accounts between November 2017 and November 2023. The Taranaki bank paid $1.7 million in compensation and interest.

Sky Network Television climbed 2.1% to $3.43 as a filing to the stock exchange showed chair Philip Bowman bought 50,000 shares on market at $3.50 apiece. He owns 900,000 shares, or 0.7% of the company.

Vulcan Steel posted the biggest gain on the day, up 5.8% at $6.72, while Ryman Healthcare was the most heavily traded stock on a volume of almost 2.5 million shares, rising 3.3% to $2.05.

Rising rates

Commercial landlords were at the bottom of the leaderboard as ANZ economists pencilled in rate hikes by the Reserve Bank in February and March, adding to their forecast for an October increase, with the OCR peaking at 3.5%.

ANZ New Zealand chief economist Sharon Zollner said the three main drivers were higher oil prices and crack spreads, a weaker kiwi dollar, and a more robust economy. The New Zealand dollar traded at 57.23 US cents at 5pm from 57.30 cents last week.

Vital Healthcare posted the sharpest decline on the NZX 50, falling 3.9% to $1.845, while Precinct dropped 3.5% to 96.5 cents and Kiwi Property Group declined 2.2% to 89.5 cents.

Craigs’ McIntyre said property stocks were the weakest sector on the day due to the predicted track for rate hikes.

Outside the benchmark index, Warehouse Group was unchanged at 60 cents after the opposition Labour party said it would campaign on separating supermarkets’ wholesale and retail arms. The big-box retailer fell 6.3% last week as the governing coalition’s National party said it would investigate carving up the Foodstuffs cooperatives into separate Pak’nSave and New World/Four Square arms if re-elected.

The Carbon Fund increased 0.6% to $1.509 after the government released criteria for endorsing schemes in New Zealand’s voluntary carbon and nature markets.

And across the Tasman, Australia’s stock exchange operator was up 1.6% in late trading after the ASX made three external exec appointments, including former NZX chief Mark Peterson to head Australia’s clearing and settlement arm. The ASX also appointed Dexus exec Kier Barnes as its chief financial officer and JPMorgan’s Elaine Vaisanen as chief operating officer.

Reporting by Paul McBeth.