NZX 50 Extends Losses, Tracking Wall Street Lower

The NZX 50 dropped 48 points, or 0.4%, to 13,702 in Wednesday morning trade, extending losses from the previous session and tracking a fall on Wall Street overnight, weighed down by semiconductor heavyweights. Caution mounted ahead of the release of China's September CPI, PPI, and trade data later today amid weak domestic demand and rising oil prices. Traders also awaited US inflation data for clues about the Fed's interest rate decision at its upcoming meeting, as well as New Zealand's food inflation and business PMI data due later this week. Traders continued to monitor the war in the Middle East, including the Saudi Arabia-Houthi conflict and its impact on oil prices. Financials, energy, technology, and consumer discretionary stocks mainly weighed on the index, with notable losses from AFT Pharmaceuticals (-2.0%), Infratil (-1.8%), Briscoe Group (-1.8%), Freightways Group (-1.5%), Summerset Group (-1.2%), Meridian Energy (-0.9%), Channel Infrastructure (-0.9%), and A2 Milk (-0.6%).