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 – September 3rd, 2026
New Zealand stock market sentiment
Bearish sentiment decreased, while bullish sentiment and neutral sentiment increased, leaving bullish responses as the largest group.
- Bullish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will rise over the next six months, increased by 1.7 percentage points to 56.3%.
- Neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will essentially stay unchanged over the next six months, increased by 1.1 percentage points to 37.5%.
- Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, decreased by 2.8 percentage points to 6.3%.
New Zealand sector level sentiment
At the sector level, bullish sentiment increased in five of eight sectors and decreased in three of eight sectors. Neutral sentiment increased in three of eight sectors, decreased in four of eight sectors, and was unchanged in one of eight sectors. Bearish sentiment increased in two of eight sectors and decreased in six of eight sectors.
- The level of optimism among individual investors is highest for IT (73.3%), followed by energy (66.7%) and industrials (61.5%). The level of optimism is lowest for real estate (20.0%), followed by consumer discretionary (33.3%) and health care and financials (both at 46.7%).
- The level of neutral sentiment is highest for consumer discretionary and real estate (both at 53.3%), followed by financials (46.7%) and primary sector and health care (both at 40.0%). Neutral sentiment is lowest for industrials (23.1%), followed by energy and IT (both at 26.7%) and primary sector and health care (both at 40.0%).
- The level of pessimism is highest for real estate (26.7%), followed by industrials (15.4%) and consumer discretionary and health care (both at 13.3%). Pessimism is lowest for primary sector and IT (both at 0.0%), followed by energy and financials (both at 6.7%) and consumer discretionary and health care (both at 13.3%).
International sentiment
For Australian stocks, bullish sentiment and bearish sentiment decreased, while neutral sentiment increased. For U.S. stocks, bullish sentiment and bearish sentiment decreased, while neutral sentiment increased. The two markets moved in the same direction across the three sentiment categories.
- Bullish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will rise over the next six months, decreased by 10.3 percentage points to 53.3% for Australian stocks and decreased by 21.4 percentage points to 28.6% for U.S. stocks.
- Neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will stay flat over the next six months, increased by 21.8 percentage points to 40.0% for Australian stocks and increased by 40.0 percentage points to 50.0% for U.S. stocks.
- Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, decreased by 11.5 percentage points to 6.7% for Australian stocks and decreased by 18.6 percentage points to 21.4% for U.S. stocks.
New Zealand personal investment sentiment
If investors were to purchase equity, the proportions of investors selecting small cap shares and selecting large cap shares increased compared to last week. Conversely, the proportions of investors selecting funds, selecting ‘nothing’, and selecting ‘don’t know’ decreased compared to last week.
- The proportion of investors selecting small cap shares increased by 6.8 percentage points to 25.0% this week if they were to purchase equity.
- The proportion of investors selecting large cap shares increased by 0.6 percentage points to 18.8% this week if they were to purchase equity.
- The proportion of investors selecting funds decreased by 1.7 percentage points to 43.8% this week if they were to purchase equity.
- The proportion of investors selecting ‘nothing’ decreased by 2.8 percentage points to 6.3% this week if they were to purchase equity.
- The proportion of investors selecting ‘don’t know’ decreased by 2.8 percentage points to 6.3% 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.