The NZX 50 climbed 24 points, or 0.2%, to 12,905 in morning trade on Monday, halting losses from the previous session, after inflation data came in softer than expected.
Q2 annual inflation accelerated to 2.7% from 2.5% but was below the expected 2.8%, raising hopes that the central bank will hold the official cash rate at 3.25%.
Traders also anticipated that the People’s Bank of China would release the June fixing today.
However, caution was built ahead of the release of New Zealand’s trade data on Tuesday, while markets continued to monitor the development of any potential trade deals between the US and its key trading partners.
Meanwhile, US stock futures were little changed as investors monitored trade deal developments and looked ahead to the release of big tech earnings this week.
Almost all sectors moved in the green, led by consumer discretionary and communication services.
Among early gainers were Napier (0.6%), Ebos Group (0.5%), Infratil (0.4%), and F&C Investment (0.3%).