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 – July 23rd, 2026
New Zealand stock market sentiment
Bullish sentiment decreased, while neutral sentiment and bearish sentiment increased, leaving neutral responses as the largest group.
- Bullish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will rise over the next six months, decreased by 15.6 percentage points to 27.3%.
- Neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will essentially stay unchanged over the next six months, increased by 7.4 percentage points to 45.5%.
- Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, increased by 8.2 percentage points to 27.3%.
New Zealand sector level sentiment
At the sector level, bullish sentiment increased in one of eight sectors and decreased in seven 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 seven of eight sectors and decreased in one of eight sectors.
- The level of optimism among individual investors is highest for primary sector, energy, and IT (all at 27.3%), followed by financials (20.0%) and health care (18.2%). The level of optimism is lowest for real estate (0.0%), followed by industrials and consumer discretionary (both at 10.0%) and health care (18.2%).
- The level of neutral sentiment is highest for real estate (72.7%), followed by industrials (60.0%) and energy and health care (both at 54.5%). Neutral sentiment is lowest for financials (30.0%), followed by primary sector and IT (both at 36.4%) and consumer discretionary (50.0%).
- The level of pessimism is highest for financials (50.0%), followed by consumer discretionary (40.0%) and primary sector and IT (both at 36.4%). Pessimism is lowest for energy (18.2%), followed by health care and real estate (both at 27.3%) and industrials (30.0%).
International sentiment
For Australian stocks, bullish sentiment and bearish sentiment decreased, while neutral sentiment increased. For U.S. stocks, bearish sentiment decreased, while bullish sentiment and neutral 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, decreased by 7.7 percentage points to 27.3% for Australian stocks and increased by 1.4 percentage points to 36.4% for U.S. stocks.
- Neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will stay flat over the next six months, increased by 24.6 percentage points to 54.5% for Australian stocks and increased by 6.4 percentage points to 36.4% for U.S. stocks.
- Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, decreased by 16.8 percentage points to 18.2% for Australian stocks and decreased by 7.7 percentage points to 27.3% 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 funds, anticipating no change in their equity allocation, and expressing uncertainty about their equity allocation increased compared to last week. Conversely, the proportion of investors planning to increase their investment in small cap shares and large cap shares decreased compared to last week.
- The proportion of investors anticipating an increase in their small cap shares decreased by 12.2 percentage points to 10.0% this week if they were to purchase equity.
- The proportion of investors anticipating an increase in their large cap shares decreased by 17.8 percentage points to 10.0% this week if they were to purchase equity.
- The proportion of investors anticipating an increase in their funds increased by 2.2 percentage points to 30.0% this week if they were to purchase equity.
- The proportion of investors anticipating no change in their equity allocation increased by 8.9 percentage points to 20.0% this week if they were to purchase equity.
- The proportion of investors who express uncertainty about their equity allocation increased by 18.9 percentage points to 30.0% 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.