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 17th, 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 16.7 percentage points to 75.0%.
- Neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will essentially stay unchanged over the next six months, decreased by 20.8 percentage points to 12.5%.
- Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, increased by 4.2 percentage points to 12.5%.
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 two of eight sectors and decreased in six of eight sectors. Bearish sentiment increased in five of eight sectors and decreased in three of eight sectors.
- The level of optimism among individual investors is highest for primary sector and health care (both at 75.0%), followed by IT (62.5%) and energy (57.1%). The level of optimism is lowest for financials and real estate (both at 25.0%), followed by industrials and consumer discretionary (both at 37.5%) and energy (57.1%).
- The level of neutral sentiment is highest for financials (62.5%), followed by industrials (50.0%) and consumer discretionary (37.5%). Neutral sentiment is lowest for energy (0.0%), followed by primary sector and real estate (both at 12.5%) and health care and IT (both at 25.0%).
- The level of pessimism is highest for real estate (62.5%), followed by energy (42.9%) and consumer discretionary (25.0%). Pessimism is lowest for health care (0.0%), followed by primary sector, industrials, financials, and IT (all at 12.5%) and consumer discretionary (25.0%).
International sentiment
For Australian stocks, neutral sentiment decreased, while bullish sentiment and bearish sentiment increased. For U.S. stocks, neutral sentiment decreased, while bullish sentiment and bearish 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, increased by 33.3 percentage points to 75.0% for Australian stocks and increased by 8.3 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 50.0 percentage points to 0.0% for Australian stocks and decreased by 12.5 percentage points to 12.5% for U.S. stocks.
- Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, increased by 16.7 percentage points to 25.0% for Australian stocks and increased by 4.2 percentage points to 37.5% 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 large cap shares and anticipating no change in their equity allocation increased compared to last week. Conversely, the proportion of investors planning to increase their investment in small cap shares and funds decreased compared to last week. Meanwhile, the proportion of investors expressing uncertainty about their equity allocation remained the same.
- The proportion of investors anticipating an increase in their small cap shares decreased by 5.7 percentage points to 12.5% this week if they were to purchase equity.
- The proportion of investors anticipating an increase in their large cap shares increased by 31.8 percentage points to 50.0% this week if they were to purchase equity.
- The proportion of investors anticipating an increase in their funds decreased by 33.0 percentage points to 12.5% this week if they were to purchase equity.
- The proportion of investors anticipating no change in their equity allocation increased by 6.8 percentage points to 25.0% this week if they were to purchase equity.
- The proportion of investors who express uncertainty about their equity allocation was unchanged at 0.0% 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.