Market Announcements
Market Summary
The New Zealand sharemarket rose late on Thursday, with Infratil rallying after securing a new contract, while the market’s newest entrant, mining company Uvre, had a strong first day. The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed up 0.61% or 81.70 points to 13,389.10 after 37.8 million shares worth $149.8m were traded. The S&P/NZX 20 index was up 0.58%, closing at 7,659.43 points, while the S&P/NZX 10 index ended the day at 12,776.36 after rising 0.87%. There were 87 gainers and 54 decliners on the main board.
The market’s newest entrant, Australian gold miner Uvre, ended its first day up 16.07% rising 4c to 32c. Infratil was the highlight after its CDC business signed a new partnership with Firmus Technologies and Nvidia. Infratil’s share price rallied 4.95% or 59c to $12.50 after 1.5 million shares changed hands on turnover worth $19.2m.
Fisher and Paykel Healthcare also lifted strongly, up 2.01% or 72c to $36.47 on turnover worth $19.6m. Meridian Energy, Mercury NZ, and Contact Energy were down for the day - Meridian’s share price fell 1.53% or 9c to $5.80, Mercury fell 0.78% or 5c to $6.39, while Contact was flat on $9.01 after 920,513 shares changed hands on turnover worth $8.2m.
Meanwhile, Precinct Properties benefited from a positive reweighting in the closing match, lifting 1.63% or 2c to $1.25 after 3.9m shares changed hands worth $4.9m.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 23 points higher at 9099.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's share market has pipped its intraday record and highest-ever close, after surprise jobs figures bolstered the likelihood of an interest rate cut.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 jumped 77.5 points on Thursday, up 0.86 per cent, to 9,068.4, as the broader All Ordinaries surged 76.9 points, or 0.83 per cent, to 9,375.9.
The top 200 soared above 9,100 points for the first time during the session, smashing its previous intraday peak of 9,054 points set in August.
After weeks of low volatility, a shock uptick in September unemployment lit a match under expectations of an interest rate cut.
While many major bank economists expect the Reserve Bank to hold the cash rate at 3.6 per cent in November, rates markets indicate a cut is 80 per cent likely and have fully priced a rate reduction by the end of the year.
"This time yesterday, markets were tossing up whether the first cut would be in the first quarter of next year or the second, so that's that's a pretty significant move," Capital.com market analyst Kyle Rodda told AAP.
"It's given stocks a bit of a boost and that's why we've got those rate-sensitive areas of the market like banks and real estate stocks leading the charge."
Real estate stocks (+2.8 per cent) and financials (+1.2 per cent) led nine of 11 local sectors higher, as the IT and utilities sectors fell behind.
The raw materials sector notched a record close for a third-straight session, as gold continued its gravity-defying run to top $US4,242 ($A6,532) an ounce.
Iron ore giants were mixed, as BHP edged 0.5 per cent higher to $43.77 but Rio Tinto and Fortescue nudged lower along with ore prices.
Investors took profits on rare earths plays despite a lack of progress in the US-China trade spat, forcing Lynas (-5.8 per cent) and Iluka (-10.5 per cent) to hand back some of October's double-digit gains.
Financials were broadly higher despite a mixed performance in the big four banks, while investment giant Macquarie rallied more than five per cent after it sold a data centre network for $62 billion.
Elsewhere in finance, wealth management group AMP rocketed to its highest price in five years after boosting its assets under management 3.6 per cent to $159.5 billion in the September quarter.
The energy sector gained one per cent despite a sluggish oil price, as natural gas futures broke out of an eight-day downtrend.
Woodside shares jumped more than one per cent to $22.70 and Santos ticked 0.8 per cent higher, despite a dip in revenue and reduced production guidance in its quarterly report.
Health care stocks continued to gather steam, hitting their highest level since late August in a broad-sector rally.
Mayne Pharma was a highlight, rocketing 11 per cent higher after the NSW Supreme Court ruled US pharmaceutical giant Cosette could not abandon its planned $672 million takeover of Mayne.
The Australian dollar is buying 64.94 US cents, falling from 65.12 US cents on Wednesday at 5pm, despite a soft greenback, as the US-China trade dispute grinds on.
ON THE ASX:
The S&P/ASX200 gained 77.5 points, or 0.86 per cent, to 9,068.4
The broader All Ordinaries rose 76.9 points, or 0.83 per cent, to 9,375.9
The NZX 50 Lost -48.64 points (-0.36%) to 13340.46
Companies Holding Annual General Meeting (ASX 300):
Australian Finance Group Ltd
PWR Holdings Limited
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended lower. The DJIA fell 0.7% to 45,952.24, the S&P 500 slipped 0.6% to 6,629.07 and the Nasdaq declined 0.5% to 22,562.54.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were JB Hunt Transport Services Inc JBHT surging 22.18%, Micron Technology Inc MU jumped 5.54%, and ON Semiconductor Corp ON lifted 5.24%.
The biggest decliners were Kenvue Inc KVUE which dropped 13.22%, F5 Inc FFIV fell 10.70%, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co HPE lost 10.14%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed mixed. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.1% to 3,916.23 and the Shenzhen Composite Index fell 0.6% to 2,463.95.
Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index declined 0.1% to 25,888.51.
Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average lifted 1.3% to 48,277.74.
India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX added 1% to 83,467.66.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index lifted 0.1% to 9,436.09. In Europe, shares closed higher. The Germany's DAX added 0.4% to 24,272.19, and the France's CAC 40 climbed 1.4% to 8,188.59
