Infratil Rises 2.65%

With help from Infratil, the New Zealand sharemarket gained yesterday, the S&P/NZX 50 rose 0.44% to 13,281.14 points on Monday, with 26.9 million shares changing hands worth $102.4m.  The local index had outperformed the ASX 200, which was down 0.35% an hour ahead of close. However, on a year-to-date basis, the Australian benchmark is up nearly 8% compared to the NZX 50’s less than 2%.

Infratil, which rose 2.65% to $12.40, was second in line in terms of volumes, registering $8.8m in value traded. Among the day's other gainers was Vital Healthcare Property, which lifted 1.86% to $2.19.

Investore Property unveiled a package of initiatives that include buying the Silverdale Centre in Auckland for $114m.  The company momentarily went into a trading halt before announcing it would put the acquisition, a capital raise through convertible notes and changes to its management arrangements with Stride Property, to shareholders.

Tourism Holdings (THL) shares rose 0.81% to $2.50 after it announced it would exit two Australian dealerships as part of an overhaul of its retail sales unit.  Shares of THL, dual-listed in NZ and Australia, were under pressure until a consortium comprising BGH Capital and the family interests of executive director Luke Trouchet made a buyout offer in June.  In August, the THL board rejected the consortium’s takeover offer of $2.30 per share, saying it believed the value of the company was worth more than $3 per share.

Source: Business Desk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 31 points lower at 8826.

- close [Morningstar with AAP]: The historically grim market month of September is living up to its reputation, with Australian shares resuming their push lower.

The S&P/ASX200 fell 21.6 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 8,849.6 on Monday, as the broader All Ordinaries slipped 13.6 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 9,126.9.

The move came after weak US jobs data on Friday sent Wall Street lower despite narrowing hopes of interest rate cuts, and as oil prices slipped on a weak demand outlook and OPEC+ flagging October production hikes.

"Some areas of market have done OK by the prospect of rate cuts, tech in particular, but for the most part we're a heavily cyclically weighted index and it's been dragged by Friday's result," Capital.com market analyst Kyle Rodda told AAP.

Tech (down 1.4 per cent) and health care (up 0.9 per cent) were the only segments finding significant buyers, as eight of 11 sectors fell into the red.

Banks were heavy, with financials down 0.6 per cent, while energy stocks took a 1.6 per cent hit as Santos (down 1.2 per cent) and Woodside (down 2.7 per cent) slipped on the oil price to multi-week lows.

CBA was the only big four bank to finish higher, up slightly to $168.24 as the other three fell between 0.6 and one per cent.

Insurers also sold off, with QBE shedding 3.7 per cent, IAG down 2.1 per cent and Suncorp fading two per cent.

The materials sector finished mostly flat, with Rio Tinto the only apparent beneficiary of iron ore futures pushing above $US105 a tonne, up 0.8 per cent to $118.21, as BHP (down 0.6 per cent) and Fortescue (down 0.3 per cent) sold off.

Gold miners were also a mixed bag as the precious metal hovered about an all-time high of $US3,600 ($A5,480) an ounce.

Northern Star gained 0.8 per cent to $20.10, while Newmont (down 0.6 per cent) and Evolution (down 1.4 per cent) ground lower.

Australia's tech sector was bolstered by tracking software Life360, which rallied more than six per cent to $95.35, as Xero (up 1.3 per cent) and WiseTech Global (up 1.9 per cent) posted solid gains.

Consumer staple stocks fell 0.4 per cent as Coles and Woolworths flagged a potential $1 billion in underpayment penalties in the wake of a Federal Court decision on Friday.

Discretionary spending stocks fell even further, as BCF and Rebel Sport owner Super Retail went ex-dividend and slid 4.2 per cent to $18.05 - the top-200's worst performance of the day.

More than 100 companies will hand cash back to shareholders between now and mid-November, which could spell short-term pain for share prices but ultimately provide investors more liquidity for reinvestment.

The Australian dollar is buying 65.76 US cents, up from 65.33 US cents on Friday at 5pm, as hopes of incoming US rate cuts weigh on the greenback.

In a lean week for local macroeconomic data, investors will be looking to inflation and producer price data from the US and China later in the week.

Westpac and NAB release consumer and business confidence surveys on Tuesday.

"Obviously, we're well out of earnings season now, so it's mostly going to be a sort of a global story for the market," Mr Rodda said.

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 slipped 21.6 points on Monday, or 0.24 per cent, to 8,849.6

The broader All Ordinaries fell 13.6 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 9,126.9

The NZX 50 Lost -42.44 points (-0.32%) to 13238.7

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

BlueScope Steel Limited

CSL Limited

News Corporation

Perseus Mining Limited

Regis Healthcare Limited

Spark New Zealand Limited

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:

U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA rose 0.3% to 45,514.95, the S&P 500 climbed 0.2% to 6,495.15 and the Nasdaq lifted 0.5% to 21,798.70.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Take-Two Interactive Software Inc TTWO surging 3.80%, Uber Technologies Inc UBER jumped 3.70%, and Live Nation Entertainment Inc LYV lifted 3.66%.

The biggest decliners were CVS Health Corp CVS which dropped 4.73%, Brown-Forman Corp BF.B fell 4.57%, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd NCLH lost 4.36%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.4% to 3,826.84 and the Shenzhen Composite Index rose 0.9% to 2,427.39.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 0.8% to 25,633.91.

Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average climbed 1.5% to 43,643.81.

India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX gained 0.1% to 80,787.30.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index climbed 0.1% to 9,221.44. In Europe, shares closed higher. The Germany's DAX rose 0.9% to 23,807.13, and the France's CAC 40 climbed 0.8% to 7,734.84