New Zealand shares rose Friday even though Asian peers traded lower as markets appeared underwhelmed by China's recent pledge to stir up its economy.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 0.5%, or 61.54 points, to close at 12,754.26.

The index has lost 0.4% over the past five trading days.

Asian peers were mostly lower, with the Shanghai SSE down 1.5%, Japan's Nikkei 225 losing 1.1%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropping 1.7%.

At the recently concluded Central Economic Work Conference, China vowed to raise its budget deficit, cut the reserve requirement ratio, and make borrowing cheaper as part of measures to boost the world's second-largest economy.

"[China's p]olicymakers want to rebalance the economy through stronger domestic demand. But their track record also shows that they will do 'just enough' to meet their growth target, but no more," Macquarie analysts wrote in a Thursday note.

"As a result, how much they will do in 2025 will depend on two things: their GDP growth target and the new US tariffs," the analysts added, noting that policymakers "may not do enough domestic stimulus to reflate the economy."

In domestic news, New Zealand's manufacturing sector deteriorated further in November as BusinessNZ's Purchasing Managers Index dropped to 45.5 from 45.7, marking its lowest since July 2024.

In corporate news, Synlait Milk (NZE:SML, ASX:SM1) rose past 1% after it further increased its forecast base milk price for the 2024 to 2025 season to NZ$10 per kilogram of milksolids (kgMS) from NZ$9.50 per kgMS.

Ryman Healthcare (NZE:RYM) reported earnings of NZ$0.136 for the first half of fiscal 2025, down from the year-earlier period's NZ$0.272 per share. Revenue rose 10% year on year to NZ$366.3 million. Shares were up 1%.