Market Announcements
Market Summary
The New Zealand sharemarket reversed Wednesday’s losses and closed higher, with My Food Bag rallying on a positive half-year result while a2 Milk faltered after its annual shareholder meeting. But all attention was overseas with Nvidia, after the company posted above-expected earnings, defying predictions of an AI bubble. The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed up 0.84% or 112.50 points to 13,439.40 after 30.1 million shares worth $117.9m were traded. The S&P/NZX 20 index was up 0.83%, closing at 7,682.31 points, while the S&P/NZX 10 index ended the day at 12,803.77 after rising 0.78%. There were 101 gainers on the main board and 40 decliners.
Hamilton Hindin Greene investment adviser Jeremy Sullivan said markets were having a positive day, largely across the board, as results from Turners Automotive Group, My Food Bag and Goodman Property Trust made their impact. “I think the main global story has to be Nvidia, and that’s flowed through to the likes of Infratil with their data centres here in New Zealand,” Sullivan said. “Revenue of US$57 billion [NZ$101.6b] for the quarter, data centre revenue up 66% year on year and GPUs are sold out. It’s fair to say that Nvidia remains the central bottleneck and beneficiary of a global AI investment, and there’s no sign of slowing demand there.”
Infratil’s share price lifted 3.46% or 40c to $11.95 on turnover worth $6.8m following Nvidia’s result.
My Food Bag reported revenue growth of 3% to $85.4m in its half-year result, although net profit dipped slightly to $2.9m. “More of an incremental improvement story, with modest growth, customer gains and lower debt. Not a high flyer by any means, but stabilising their business and finding their feet again.” The market liked what it saw, with My Food Bag rallying 4% or 1c to $0.26 with 919,457 shares changing hands.
A2 Milk held its annual shareholder meeting and upgraded its FY26 revenue guidance due to stronger-than-expected trading in infant formula, other nutritionals, and milk, and a weaker NZ dollar. “I think the key takeaway for them is just after several years of volatility, a2 is showing signs of stabilised broad-based growth, and the upgrade wasn’t all currency driven, and the signals are there that demand is firming up better than the market expected.” Sullivan said investors were hoping for more, with a2’s share price falling 0.47% or 5c to $10.70 on turnover worth $8.6m.
Meanwhile, Turners Automotive reported its first-half result, delivering a record profit of $21.9m despite subdued consumer conditions. Sullivan said one interesting part of its update was the decline in automotive retailers in NZ, with the number of registered dealers at its lowest point since May 2012. “As they grow, the competition’s shrinking, and the recent clean car discount changes from the Government are going to allow them to import a lot of their more traditional vehicles as well, all pointing to a pretty solid result from Turners.” Turners’ share price lifted 0.78% or 6c to $7.77 on turnover worth $4.2m.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 142 points lower at 8429.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: The Australian bourse has notched its biggest gain since August as technology rebounds and mining boons led the market higher.
The S&P/ASX200 rose 104.8 points on Thursday, up 1.24 per cent to 8,552.7, as the broader All Ordinaries gained 112.6 points, or 1.29 per cent, to 8,834.
Nine of 11 local sectors finished positively with the foundation of the rally lying in the materials and financials heavyweight sectors, which had their best session in weeks.
IT stocks shot up on the back of a five per cent revenue increase for US chipmaker Nvidia, which also settled nerves regarding a potential artificial intelligence bubble, at least for now.
An afternoon slowdown was just enough to keep tech from being the biggest winner of the day, gaining 2.4 per cent, but many investors are still breathing sighs of relief that worries of overinvestment in the sector have not come to fruition.
"There's no evidence yet of a cooling in demand for data centres and computer chips," BetaShares chief economist David Bassanese told AAP.
"It's not to say we won't eventually get bubble conditions in the AI sector but ... there's no evidence yet that investments won't be met by strong demand."
Tech heavies WiseTech and Xero both gained more than 1.5 per cent each, while TechnologyOne (+4.4 per cent) and Life360 (+4.2 per cent) rebounded convincingly from recent slumps.
Mr Bassanese warned optimism might not last for long, particularly in those sectors hoping for cheaper borrowing costs anytime soon.
"Good news with regard to a possible RBA rate cut is gone out the window so we've got nothing really to hang our Christmas rally on in Australia," he said.
"It really is dependent on the AI boom that's going on in the US continuing to lift all boats in the rising tide."
Financials sported its first positive daily close in nearly two weeks with all big four banks ticking up around one per cent and Macquarie starting to recuperate from a week of losses with a 2.4 per cent lift.
The exchange's biggest company, Commonwealth Bank, had its first gain for a week to close at $153 a share.
Miners had a bumper day, rocketing up 2.4 per cent after gold miners defied cooling spot prices of $US4,073 ($A6,279) an ounce to post massive wins including a 3.3 per cent gain for Evolution and 3.8 per cent for Northern Star.
Lithium interests had some of the day's biggest rises with Liontown soaring 9.6 per cent and Pilbara up 5.3 per cent, while iron ore giants BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue all rose more than two per cent.
Energy was one of the few losers on Thursday, down 0.4 per cent, with a late rally in oil prices not enough to stop giants Woodside (-0.6 per cent) and Santos (-0.8 per cent) dragging on the sector.
At the other end of the spectrum, real estate made big gains, ticking 1.4 per cent higher, with Charter Hall the big winner as earnings guidance upgrades sparked a 6.7 per cent boost.
Former market sweetheart DroneShield continued to make headlines, down more than 70 per cent since October and shedding 4.1 per cent on Thursday to $1.89, even as it told the ASX its three directors did not agree to simultaneously sell shares worth $70 million.
The Australian dollar was buying 64.79 US cents, down from 64.89 at 5pm on Wednesday.
ON THE ASX:
The S&P/ASX200 rose 104.8 points, or 1.24 per cent, to 8,552.7
The broader All Ordinaries fell 112.6 points, or 1.29 per cent, to 8,834
The NZX 50 Lost -122.54 points (-0.92%) to 13316.86
Companies Holding Annual General Meeting (ASX 300):
Kogan.com Ltd
Lifestyle Communities Limited
Lovisa Holdings Limited
Macquarie Technology Group Limited
Qoria Limited
Reece Limited
Regis Resources Limited
Sims Limited
Westgold Resources Limited
Wisetech Global Limited
Companies commencing Ex-Dividend Trading Today (ASX 300):
Orica Limited
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended lower. The DJIA declined 0.8% to 45,752.26, the S&P 500 fell 1.6% to 6,538.76 and the Nasdaq slipped 2.2% to 22,078.05.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Walmart Inc WMT surging 6.46%, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc REGN jumped 4.87%, and GE HealthCare Technologies Inc GEHC lifted 3.37%.
The biggest decliners were Jacobs Solutions Inc J which dropped 10.95%, Micron Technology Inc MU fell 10.87%, and Robinhood Markets Inc HOOD lost 10.16%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.4% to 3,931.05 and the Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 0.8% to 2,454.44.
Hong Kong shares ended flat. The benchmark Hang Seng Index was unchanged at 25,835.57.
Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average rose 2.6% to 49,823.94.
India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX gained 0.5% to 85,632.68.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index climbed 0.2% to 9,527.65. In Europe, shares closed higher. The Germany's DAX rose 0.5% to 23,278.85, and the France's CAC 40 added 0.3% to 7,981.07
