Higher opens are expected Wednesday for the New Zealand and Australia sharemarkets. Traders saw U.S. shares move broadly higher overnight in advance of a vote in Greece on new austerity measures.
New Zealand's sharemarket stood alone as the only major Asia/Pacific region market to close lower on Tuesday, declining for a fourth straight session.
The benchmark NZX-50 index dropped 7.93 points or 0.23 percent to 3,459.6.
The NZ Stock Exchange reported trading volume of 40.45 million shares valued at NZ$114.3 million.
Among the most actively traded stocks of the day, Auckland International Airport closed up NZ$0.01, Contact Energy was down .18, Fletcher Building was down .06, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was unchanged, Infratil was down .02, Michael Hill International was unchanged, PGG Wrightson was unchanged, SkyCity Entertainment was up .02 and Telecom Corp of NZ was up .02.
For the Australia-NZ dual-listed stocks, AMP closed up .03, Australia and NZ Bank was up .31, APN News & Media was down .01, Goodman Fielder was up .02, Telstra was down .02 and Westpac Bank was up .31.
In Australia, the market rose following the release of RBA minutes showing sentiment for higher interest rates in the future, but not the near-term future.
A rejected takeover bid for brewer Fosters by SABMiller also energized the market.
At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was at 4,508.2, a rise of 56.4 points or 1.3 percent. The broader All Ordinaries index was up 52.70 points or 1.17 percent at 4,565.20.
Shares of Fosters rose A$0.61 or 13.5 percent.
Trading volume was 2.38 billion shares valued at A$4.99 billion.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.