New Zealand shares rose on Thursday, boosted by a rally in health technology stocks.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 0.79% or 101.56 points to close at 12,880.82.

The health technology sector rose nearly 3%, led by a 4% increase in the shares of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (ASX:FPH, NZE:FPH).

Meanwhile, most Asian indexes were down on Thursday, ending the rally of the US-China trade truce, Reuters reported.

"I get the feeling there is a little bit of a reluctance to take the market higher from here," said IG market analyst Tony Sycamore, as quoted by Reuters.

On the local macroeconomic front, house values in New Zealand declined in April amid high inventory levels, with a large number of unsold properties continuing to weigh on prices, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand said in a Thursday report.

Meanwhile, food prices in New Zealand rose 3.7% on an annual basis in April, following a 3.5% rise in March, Stats NZ data showed Thursday.

In corporate news, Sanford (NZE:SAN) reported Thursday that its earnings per diluted share in the fiscal first half rose to NZ$0.364 from NZ$0.173 per diluted share a year earlier.

Auckland International Airport's (NZE:AIA, ASX:AIA) total passenger movements rose 1% year on year to over 1.5 million passengers in April, following a 3% decline in March.