NZX 50 Tumbles on Rising Oil Prices

New Zealand's stocks fell on Friday morning, extending losses from the previous session. The NZX 50 index dropped 94 points, or 0.7%, to 13,864.

The decline was driven by a range of sectors, including energy, healthcare, consumer staples, and industrials. Early decliners included Auckland International Airport (-2.1%), A2 Milk (-2.1%), Fisher & Paykel (-2.1%), Channel Infrastructure (-0.9%), and Smart Healthcare (-0.8%).

Rising oil prices added to the pressure on sentiment, as concerns over inflation raised expectations that interest rates could be hiked by the RBNZ. Traders were also cautious ahead of key economic data releases, including China's trade data and US jobs data.