New Zealand Stocks Muted to Start the Week

New Zealand shares were flat at around 11,811.03 on Monday, as a rise in industrials, financials, and healthcare offset falls in consumer staples, tech sectors, and utilities after hitting a sharp decline since October 20th in the previous session.

Traders were cautious ahead of the releases of New Zealand's business confidence for March and the unemployment rate for Q1 this week, with the market expecting the jobless rate to increase to 4.3%, the highest in three years, raising expectations that the RBNZ will hold interest rates at 5.5% for longer.

Traders anticipate the Fed interest rate decisions, jobs reports, and PMI's manufacturing and services later this week.

In the US, Wall Street ended higher on Friday, boosted by a sharp rise in tech-heavy Nasdaq while investors ignored PCS inflation accelerated persist. Fisher & Paykel rose 0.73%, Infratil gained 0.65%, and ANZ Group advanced 1.30%, while Mainfreight and A2 Milk fell by 0.56% and 0.62%, respectively.