New Zealand shares were flat for a second consecutive day on Thursday despite gains from counterparts in Asia and on Wall Street.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index was little changed at 13,060.08.

The index has lost 0.5% over the past five trading days.

Chinese equities rose, with the Shanghai SSE up 1% after the country's securities regulator urged insurers to raise their investments in the stock market. This also helped offset trade fears after threats of further tariffs from the US resurfaced.

Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 0.7%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was little changed.

Overnight, the S&P 500 gained 0.6%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.3%.

In domestic news, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon encouraged the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee to meet more frequently to decide on its interest rates, interest.co.nz reported Thursday.

In corporate news, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels New Zealand (NZE:MCK) rose about 1% after it appointed Cameron Partners and Bell Gully to assist it in responding to the takeover notice from CDL Hotels Holdings New Zealand.

Contact Energy (NZE:CEN, ASX:CEN) reported that its retail mass market electricity sales fell to 239 gigawatt hours (GWh) in December from 240 GWh a year earlier. Wholesale electricity sales to customer businesses increased to 263 GWh from 256 GWh. Contact's shares were flat.

Tower (ASX:TWR, NZE:TWR) Chief Financial Officer Paul Johnston will assume the role of interim chief executive, effective Feb. 13, following the resignation of Blair Turnbull. The Kiwi insurer's shares ended Thursday trading up almost 1%.