This collaboration between NZSA and University of Canterbury (UC) Business School is part of our mission to promote a thriving market and to be the voice of investors. A sentiment index will contribute to the understanding of investor behaviour and the overall market and allow you to get first access to the data and make better-informed investment decisions.
Have your say!
Each week, a random selection of NZSA members are sent an email to complete the survey. If you wish to participate in the NZ Investor Sentiment Index Survey anyway, you can click on this link anytime – also contained in each Briefing newsletter. The sentiment survey is conducted weekly from Thursday 12:01am to Wednesday 11:45pm.
This Week’s Results:
This week’s commentary – June 11th, 2026
New Zealand stock market sentiment
Neutral sentiment decreased, while bullish sentiment and bearish sentiment increased, leaving bullish responses as the largest group.
- Bullish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will rise over the next six months, increased by 39.6 percentage points to 53.8%.
- Neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will essentially stay unchanged over the next six months, decreased by 41.8 percentage points to 15.4%.
- Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, increased by 2.2 percentage points to 30.8%.
New Zealand sector level sentiment
At the sector level, bullish sentiment increased in four of eight sectors, decreased in three of eight sectors, and was unchanged in one of eight sectors. Neutral sentiment increased in four of eight sectors and decreased in four of eight sectors. Bearish sentiment increased in four of eight sectors and decreased in four of eight sectors.
- The level of optimism among individual investors is highest for IT (58.3%), followed by primary sector (50.0%) and energy (41.7%). The level of optimism is lowest for consumer discretionary (0.0%), followed by real estate (7.7%) and industrials and financials (both at 16.7%).
- The level of neutral sentiment is highest for industrials (58.3%), followed by health care (50.0%) and primary sector and consumer discretionary (both at 41.7%). Neutral sentiment is lowest for IT (25.0%), followed by energy and financials (both at 33.3%) and real estate (38.5%).
- The level of pessimism is highest for consumer discretionary (58.3%), followed by real estate (53.8%) and financials (50.0%). Pessimism is lowest for primary sector (8.3%), followed by health care and IT (both at 16.7%) and energy and industrials (both at 25.0%).
International sentiment
For Australian stocks, neutral sentiment and bearish sentiment decreased, while bullish sentiment increased. For U.S. stocks, neutral sentiment decreased, while bullish sentiment and bearish sentiment increased. The two markets diverged in at least one sentiment category.
- Bullish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will rise over the next six months, increased by 29.8 percentage points to 58.3% for Australian stocks and increased by 7.1 percentage points to 50.0% for U.S. stocks.
- Neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will stay flat over the next six months, decreased by 17.9 percentage points to 25.0% for Australian stocks and decreased by 34.5 percentage points to 8.3% for U.S. stocks.
- Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, decreased by 11.9 percentage points to 16.7% for Australian stocks and increased by 27.4 percentage points to 41.7% for U.S. stocks.
New Zealand personal investment sentiment
If investors were to purchase equity, the proportions of investors planning to increase their investment in small cap shares and expressing uncertainty about their equity allocation increased compared to last week. Conversely, the proportions of investors planning to increase their investment in large cap shares and funds, and anticipating no change in their equity allocation decreased compared to last week.
- The proportion of investors anticipating an increase in their small cap shares increased by 19.0 percentage points to 33.3% this week if they were to purchase equity.
- The proportion of investors anticipating an increase in their large cap shares decreased by 11.9 percentage points to 16.7% this week if they were to purchase equity.
- The proportion of investors anticipating an increase in their funds decreased by 3.6 percentage points to 25.0% this week if they were to purchase equity.
- The proportion of investors anticipating no change in their equity allocation decreased by 11.9 percentage points to 16.7% this week if they were to purchase equity.
- The proportion of investors who express uncertainty about their equity allocation increased by 8.3 percentage points to 8.3% this week if they were to purchase equity.
Historic Data
There have been wide variations since the survey began (January 2020) in Investor Sentiment. The following chart shows:
- the lowest recorded response for each type of sentiment (the lower ‘whisker’)
- the recorded responses between 25th – 75th percentile (the ‘box’)
- the median response score – ie, exactly 50% of scores are above and below this number
- the maximum response (excluding ‘outliers’)
- Interestingly, NZ Investors have displayed a greater tendency towards expressing “negative” (bearish) sentiment since the survey’s inception.