NZX 50 Rises 0.2%

New Zealand's stocks rose 28 points, or 0.2%, to 13,889 in Wednesday morning trade, after retreating in the previous session, mainly boosted by consumer discretionary, consumer staples, and utilities.

However, rising oil prices amid uncertainty over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz capped the gain, raising concerns over inflation and also raising questions about how they could affect the RBNZ's monetary policy decision at its September meeting.

Caution also prevailed ahead of the US inflation data for clues about the Fed's monetary policy decision at its upcoming meeting.

Traders also awaited the release of the RBNZ's business inflation expectations for Q3, due on Thursday, after accelerating slightly in Q2.

Among the early gainers were A2 Milk (1.2%), Infratil (0.9%), Westpac Banking Corp. (0.9%), Channel Infrastructure (0.6%), EBOS Group (0.5%), and F&C Investment (0.4%).