10.02.202623:01:46UTC+00New Zealand Equities Inch Lower

New Zealand shares slipped 17 points, or 0.2%, to 13,487 in early trading on Wednesday, giving back earlier gains as Wall Street ended mostly lower overnight on soft U.S. retail sales data and caution ahead of a key labour market report. Sentiment was further restrained ahead of today’s releases of China’s CPI and PPI, with annual consumer inflation forecast to ease to 0.4% from December’s near three-year high of 0.8%, while producer prices are expected to remain in their longest downturn in more than three years. Locally, December visitor arrival figures and January PMI data are due in the coming days, followed by January food inflation numbers and the Reserve Bank’s first policy meeting of 2026 next week. Sector declines were led by healthcare, non-energy minerals, and producer manufacturing, partly offset by gains in consumer durables and energy minerals. Among the notable decliners were Serko Ltd. (-3.6%), Freightways Group (-2.3%), Tourism Holdings (-2.0%), and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (-1.7%).