New Zealand Stocks Track Wall Street Lower

The NZX 50 lost 69 points, or 0.5%, to 13,691 in Thursday morning deals, after a slight gain in the previous session, tracking a decline on Wall Street overnight as faster-than-expected inflation data raised expectations of Fed rate hikes. Rising oil prices pressured sentiment amid concerns over inflation and the RBNZ's tightening monetary policy, after the central bank hiked interest rates in July and September. Caution also prevailed ahead of the release of New Zealand's food inflation and business PMI data on Friday. All sectors traded in the red, led by financials, energy, technology, and communication services. Among the biggest losers were South Port New Zealand (-2.5%), Infratil (-2.0%), Chorus (-1.2%), Port of Tauranga (-1.0%), Channel Infrastructure (-0.9%), Fisher & Paykel (-0.8%), Hallenstein Glasson (-0.8%), Freightways Group (-0.7%), and Meridian Energy (-0.7%).