NZX50 enjoys best month since September as Vista recovers, Infratil surges

New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index posted its best month since September last year as Vista Group International hit a four-month high having secured new customers for its cloud service, while Infratil surged as a major contract marked a step change for its CDC data centre investment.

The local benchmark was led higher on Friday by Tourism Holdings as the rental campervan operator received a new offer from suitor Luke Trouchet and BGH Capital in a heavy day of trading as institutional investors rejigged their portfolios to match the latest reweighting of MSCI indices.

Stock markets across Asia were stronger on Friday on optimism of an extended ceasefire between the US and Iran, pending agreement by President Donald Trump, with oil prices easing and government bond yields falling.

And while a flurry of earnings rolled in before the end of the month, ANZ’s latest consumer and business confidence surveys showed households and firms weren’t quite as gloomy in May as they were in April.