NZ Sharemarket Ends Week Up 2.2%

The New Zealand sharemarket surged to its highest close this year on Friday after having its sixth gain in seven trading days on increased confidence offshore. With Wall Street having a strong rebound, the S&P/NZX 50 Index kicked on and closed at 13,223.53, up 90.32 points or 0.69%. There were 97 gainers and 43 decliners on volumes of 32.4 million share transactions worth $124.4m following the placement of $140m worth of Vista Group shares. ACC bought 3.85m shares at a cost of $11.84m for a 5% stake in Vista, which was up 11c or 3.63% to $3.14.

The NZX index surpassed the previous highest close for the year of 13,194.07 points on Aug 21, and rose 2.2% for the week. It is now nearly 1% ahead year-to-date, and has in fact risen more than 12% since the low point of 11,775.88 points on April 7.

The market was led by Fisher and Paykel Healthcare up 76c or 2.05% to $37.89; Gentrack increasing 40c or 4.18% to $9.98; and Mercury Energy gaining 13c or 1.97% to $6.72. Hallenstein Glasson rebounded 28c or 3.17% to $9.10; Freightways was up 20c to $12.39; Delegat Group gained a further 9c or 2% to $4.60; and AFT Pharmaceuticals rose 10c or 3.85% to $2.70.

KMD Brands gained 2.5c or 10% to 27.5c after outlining its reorganisation and product development plans. Eroad increased 10c or 4% to $2.60, and Vulcan Steel was up 17c or 2.2% to $7.90.

Fletcher Building declined 10c or 3.01% to $3.22 after providing a remuneration report disclosing managing director and group chief executive Andrew Reding’s salary at $1.456m and short and long-term incentives, taking the total package to $5.08m. Fletcher said with the appointment of Reding from the end of September last year, the board took the opportunity of resetting the remuneration package to have a stronger emphasis on the long-term and be more tightly tied to share price performance. Fletcher said the salary was reduced by $866,000, and the total remuneration decreased by $2m in line with business performance and compared to the previous group CEO’s arrangements. Reding’s short-term incentives are $725,000 in cash and $725,000 in shares, and long-term incentives are worth $2.175m.  “Importantly, 56% of the total remuneration is now delivered in equity that vests over time, reinforcing long-term alignment with shareholder interests,” Fletcher said.

Summerset declined 21c or 1.93% to $10.66; Scales Corp was down 7c to $5.23; and Ventia Services decreased 16c or 2.64% to $5.89. SkyCity, likely to be removed from the S&P/ASX 200 Index, was down 1.5c or 2.11% to 69.5c a day after its 1 for 3.35 retail offer, at 70c a share, closed.  SkyCity was seeking to raise $159m, and CEO Jason Wallbridge disclosed that he bought 200,000 shares, costing $140,000.

New Talisman Gold Mines fell 0.006c or 13.04% to 4c after indicating it will be seeking further working capital in a share placement.  In a trading update, New Talisman said the process of starting mining in the Karangahake Gorge has been highly complex and has taken longer than expected.  “We now have all the components in place to produce a saleable product.”

Source: Business Desk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 15 points lower at 8848.

- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's share market has edged higher but the sprint to the finish couldn't balance the week's post-earnings profit-taking and a brutal mid-week sell-off.

The S&P/ASX200 rose 44.7 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 8,871.2, on Friday, as the broader All Ordinaries gained 49.1 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 9,140.5.

The top-200 fell about one per cent for the week and is roughly 145 points short of its record close set on August 21.

On top of the bourse's $53 billion bloodbath, as bond market tremors rattled global equities, local investors were already taking money off the table after financial reporting season, Capital.com market analyst Kyle Rodda said.

"The results were pretty mediocre, overall," Mr Rodda told AAP.

"We had stocks record highs, so we were sort of due for a pullback."

Nine of 11 local sectors traded higher on Friday, led by interest rate-sensitive tech stocks (+1.2 per cent), real estate plays (+1.4 per cent) and consumer discretionary shares (+1.3 per cent).

Energy stocks and the consumer discretionary segment lagged the bourse, as oil prices faded on expected OPEC+ production hikes and after the Federal Court ruled against Coles and Woolworths on underpayment action brought buy the Fair Work Commission.

Financials helped lift the bourse, but closed 0.9 per cent lower for the week, despite reclaiming most of Wednesday's losses.

All big four banks made gains on Friday, led by NAB and Westpac.

The materials sector was a mixed bag, up 0.3 per cent for the day but down 0.7 per cent since Monday as a heavy BHP countered strong performances by Rio Tinto and Fortescue.

Strength in gold miners continued, with Evolution and Newmont rallying about four per cent higher in five sessions, while Northern Star surged 5.4 per cent for the week to $19.94.

Spot gold is hovering less than 0.7 per cent from Wednesday's fresh all-time high of $US3578.59 ($A5,482) an ounce, the precious metal and safe haven's price exploding 35 per cent in 2025.

The local IT sector's strong finish was underpinned by Life360 (+3.1 per cent), data centre play NextDC (+2.8 per cent) and Technology One (+1.4 per cent), but the sector ultimately closed 3.7 per cent lower for the week.

Real estate stocks bucked the trend to close the day and week higher, as Goodman Group, Charter Hall, Mirvac and GPT posted strong finishes.

The Australian dollar held its ground to buy 65.33 US cents, up from 65.24 US cents on Thursday, as an all but baked-in September interest rate cut in the US weighed on the greenback.

Investors will be looking to key US job data overnight for hints to the likelihood and magnitude of the Federal Reserve's upcoming rates decision.

"The question is not even really if the Fed cuts in September anymore, it's how much do they cut by?" Mr Rodda said.

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 rose 44.7 points on Friday, or 0.51 per cent, to 8,871.2

The broader All Ordinaries lifted 49.1 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 9,140.5

The NZX 50 Lost -59.95 points (-0.46%) to 13163.58

Companies commencing Ex-Dividend Trading Today (ASX 300):

AUB Group Limited

Australian Finance Group Ltd

HUB24 Limited

Smartgroup Corporation Ltd

Super Retail Group Limited

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:

U.S. stocks ended mixed. The DJIA declined 0.5% to 45,400.86, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 6,481.50 and the Nasdaq was unchanged at 21,700.39.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Broadcom Inc AVGO surging 9.44%, Enphase Energy Inc ENPH jumped 8.61%, and Micron Technology Inc MU lifted 5.76%.

The biggest decliners were Lululemon Athletica Inc LULU which dropped 18.58%, Kenvue Inc KVUE fell 9.08%, and Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD lost 6.60%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index added 1.2% to 3,812.51 and the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 3.2% to 2,405.82.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 1.4% to 25,417.98.

Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average gained 1% to 43,018.75.

India shares ended flat. The BSE SENSEX was unchanged at 80,710.76.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished lower. The FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.1% to 9,208.21. In Europe, shares closed lower. The Germany's DAX declined 0.7% to 23,596.98, and the France's CAC 40 dropped 0.3% to 7,674.78