New Zealand shares ended higher on Thursday as Asian shares followed a tech rally from Wall Street.

The S&P/NZX 50 index gained 1.49% or 197.18 points to close at 13,444.20.

The Wall Street rally was helped by Nvidia signing a multi-year deal with Meta to sell millions of its current and future AI chips, according to a Tuesday Reuters report.

On Wednesday's Wall Street trading session, the S&P 500 rose 0.6%, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8%, and the Dow Jones added 0.3%.

In domestic news, overall card spending in New Zealand on ANZ-issued debit and credit cards was up 0.4% in January on a seasonally adjusted, three-month-average basis and up 4.1% compared with the same period in 2025, said ANZ Research in a report.

In corporate news, Scales (NZE:SCL) said that Chief Financial Officer Steve Kennelly will retire in May and assume a new position as company secretary.

Ventia Services Group (ASX:VNT, NZE:VNT) reported Thursday 2025 underlying basic earnings of AU$0.3034 per basic share, up from AU$0.2574 a year earlier.