Leading sector performance was energy, up 3.8 per cent following a continued rally in energy futures.
The financial and materials sectors also had increases of 1.0 and 0.9 per cent, respectively. Losing out were health (-0.6 per cent), consumer discretionary (-0.4 per cent), and real estate (-0.3 per cent).
Oil and gas producer Devon Energy led the market, up 7.3 per cent at the time of writing, following a jump in energy futures.
Also benefitting from this environment were oilfield services company, Schlumberger, and exploration and production firm Marathon Oil, each rising 6.6 and 6.5 per cent.
Conversely, biopharmaceutical company Pfizer fell 4.0 per cent. Investors may be concerned around US litigation surrounding Zantac, a heartburn drug that contained a probable carcinogen, which was pulled from shelves in 2020 on the Food and Drug Administration's orders.
Solar technology company Enphase Energy fell 3.0 per cent, likely related to the surge in fossil fuel futures seen recently.
Digital platform provider ServiceNow fell 2.7 per cent.
The US Bureau of Labour Statistics released Producer Price Index (PPI) data for July.
The index measures the average change in the sales prices domestic producers receive for their output.
Somewhat like the consumers price index, the PPI differs in the sense that it includes components of personal consumption not paid by the buyer of a product.
Consensus estimates were for a 0.2 per cent gain in the index, but the data unexpectedly showed a 0.5 per cent decrease.
Rest of the World
Mixed movements continued in Asia. The Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite increased 2.4 and 1.6 per cent, respectively. Conversely, the Nikkei fell 0.7 per cent.
European markets were mixed overnight with the CAC rising 0.3 per cent, while the FTSE and the Dax fell 0.6 and 0.1 per cent, respectively.
Commodities
Gold prices retreated by 0.4 per cent to US$1806 per ounce.
Energy futures continued rallying. WTI Crude Oil rose 3.2 per cent to US$94.84 per barrel, while natural gas increased 8.0 per cent.
Ethereum and Bitcoin rose 4.4 and 2.9 per cent, respectively.
At the time of writing, the US 10-Year Treasury rate was up nine basis points to 2.869 per cent.
New Zealand
The NZX 50 increased 0.1 per cent to 11,760.01 points.
Financial services firm Heartland Group led gains with a 2.9 per cent rise yesterday. The a2 Milk Company regained lost ground with a 2.9 per cent rise.
Rounding out the outperformers of the day was retirement village operator Summerset Group Holdings, improving 2.7 per cent.
By contrast, real estate owner and developer Precinct Properties dropped 2.7 per cent.
Cinema technology company Vista Group International slid 2.5 per cent. Manufacturer Skellerup Holdings was also among the bottom movers, down 1.9 per cent.
Statistics New Zealand migration data for the year to June 2022 revealed 11,500 more people left New Zealand than arrived, adding fuel to some fears of a brain drain.
Of the 60,700 departures, over 24,000 were New Zealand citizens leaving the country.
According to Statistics New Zealand travel data, 310,000 overseas visitors arrived on our shores in the year ended June 2022, up from 186,000 the previous year.
While this data may be encouraging for the tourism sector, this result remains significantly lower than pre-Covid numbers, when annual overseas visitor arrivals nudged 4 million.
Australia
The ASX 200 closed at 7071.00 points on Thursday, up 1.1 per cent.
10 of 11 sectors closed higher. Consumer discretionary led with a 2.2 per cent incline and Australian real estate investment trusts rose 2.0 per cent. Utilities was the one sector to decline, losing 1.5 per cent.
Family tracking app Life 360 led single stocks with a 13.3 per cent lift. Battery materials and technology company Novonix gained 10.87 per cent and Pinnacle Investment's share price was up 7.2 per cent.
Share register operator Computershare dropped 5.1 per cent, Rio Tinto slipped 4.0 per cent and APA Group fell 2.2 per cent.
AMP (-0.9 per cent) released earnings results for the first half of 2022, reporting a 25 per cent decrease in profits from first half 2021.
The company announced that due to capital strength from asset sales and underlying operations, they will return A$1.1 billion of capital to shareholders.
Capital will be returned through a A$350 million on-market share buyback, commencing immediately, and a further A$750 million of dividends, capital returns or further share buy backs planned in FY23.
GQG Partners (+4.9 per cent) also released mid-year results, reporting net operating income of US$174.2 million for the first six months of 2022, exceeding forecasts of US$172.9.
The company declared a second quarter interim dividend of US$0.0198 per share.
Telstra (-1.2 per cent) reported a fall in profits (-4.6 per cent) and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (-5.0 per cent), to A$1.8 billion and A$7.3 billion respectively.
The company increased its dividend to 8.5 cents per share, bringing the total year's dividend to 16.5 cents per share. This is the first dividend increase since 2015.
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