Market Announcements
Market Summary
Seeka and PGG Wrightson provided some optimism for the economic recovery with earnings upgrades yesterday, helping fuel a decent turnaround in the New Zealand sharemarket. The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell as low as 13,339.52 but staged a rebound in the afternoon to finish flat on 13,408.14, up 1.23 points or 0.01%. There were 55 gainers and 83 decliners on the main board, with 35.5 million shares worth $123.9m changing hands in the run-up to Christmas.
The NZX 50 has gained more than 2% this year and has been outstripped by the MidCap and SmallCap indices. The NZX MidCap, for the next-largest stocks outside the top 10, has risen 18% so far this year, and the SmallCap has increased more than 28%.
Economists are expecting a decent recovery in gross domestic product when the September quarter figures are released on Thursday. ANZ expects the NZ economy to have grown 1% in the quarter ending September, significantly stronger than the Reserve Bank of NZ’s November forecast of 0.4%.
Meanwhile, the services sector in NZ deepened its contraction in November. The BNZ–BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index was 46.9 – 1.5 points lower than October, and the lowest level of activity since May. The November result was also well below the average of 52.8 (more than 50 signals of expansion) over the survey's history.
In the United States, tech stocks with exposure to artificial intelligence again took a hit at the weekend (NZ time). The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.69% to 23,195.17 points; the S&P 500 was down 1.07% to 6,827.41; and the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 0.51% to 48 458.5. The indices are still at record levels.
Back home, kiwifruit grower and packer Seeka rose 15c or 3.33% to $4.65 after upgrading its current year gross profit guidance to $44m-$48m, from $39m-$43m because of higher returns from sales and excellent performance in post-harvest. Seeka said the forecast earnings will be at record levels.
PGG Wrightson was up 3c to $2.20 after increasing its full-year operating earnings (ebitda) guidance to about $64m, from the previous $60m plus, and compared with $56.1m in the 2025 financial year. The longstanding rural services company said the increase reflected the continued strength and resilience of the agricultural sector. While dairy commodity prices have softened in recent weeks, most farmers will head into the Christmas period with confidence, supported by strong farmgate returns across beef and sheep meat.
Freightways was down 20c to $13.75; Mercury Energy shed 13c or 2.05% to $6.21; Channel Infrastructure decreased 7c or 2.48% to $2.75; and Eroad declined 2c or 1.74% to $1.13. Tourism Holdings was down 10c or 3.85% to $2.50; Vital Healthcare Property Trust declined 4c or 1.97% to $1.99; Scott Technology decreased 10c or 3.45% to $2.80; Third Age Health fell 26c or 3.54% to $7.09; and T&G Global was down 7c or 2.99% to $2.27.
Market leader Fisher & Paykel Healthcare gained 39c to $37.83; a2 Milk added 15c to $10.31; Summerset gained 14c to $12.39; Green Cross Health was up 5c or 4.76% to $1.10; and ikeGPS increased 5.0c or 4.81% to $1.090. Payroll fintech company PaySauce went into a trading halt after announcing a $4m capital raise, comprising $3m institutional placement and $1m share purchase plan at 26c a share. PaySauce last traded at 28c. The money raised will be used to fund PaySauce’s expansion into the Australian market, beginning in February.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 1 points lower at 8637.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's share market has posted its worst day in four weeks, after a weekend slump in commodity prices dragged on the raw materials sector.
The S&P/ASX200 fell 62.3 points on Monday, down 0.72 per cent to 8,635, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 59.5 points, or 0.66 per cent, to 8,923.8.
BHP led the mega cap miners lower, tumbling more than three per cent despite relatively steady iron ore futures, after new home prices in China fell for a 29th month and retail sales figures undershot forecasts.
"The ASX started the week on the back foot there with the weak lead from Wall Street on Friday night, but I think really, what's compounded that is the Chinese data dump today has been pretty grim," IG market analyst Tony Sycamore told AAP.
"Falls in the in the property market there have actually started to accelerate a little bit to the downside again and factory output, retail sales, were all really dire, amounting to a pretty bad day for the materials sector, which is exposed to the Chinese property market and the Chinese economy."
The sector plummeted 2.2 per cent by the close, wiping most of the previous week's gains.
Ten of 11 local segments ended the session lower, with only consumer discretionary stocks notching a 0.5 per cent win with some help from JB Hi-Fi, Bunnings owner Wesfarmers, and Temple and Webster finding some bargain hunters after recent share price weakness.
Gold stocks broadly sold off, despite the underlying commodity recovering from a weekend sell-off to trade $US4,327 ($A6,511) an ounce.
Evolution, which also produces copper, slumped 3.8 per cent to $12.28, while Genesis Minerals and Ramelius Resources plummeted more than five per cent each.
Critical minerals producers were also under pressure, with lithium stocks Liontown and Pilbara Minerals shedding 6.4 per cent and 3.9 per cent, while Lynas Rare Earths slipped almost two per cent.
The heavyweight financials sector grinded less than 0.1 per cent lower, as a slip in CBA and Macquarie's share prices counterbalanced a 1.2 per cent boost to ANZ and modest gains from NAB and Westpac.
Energy stocks struggled, as oil prices lingered on par with eight week lows, and as uranium stocks sold off as investors weighed the possibility of an artificial intelligence bubble after less-than-perfect tech earnings prompted sell-offs in Oracle and Broadcom the previous week.
Laser enrichment technology Silex Systems was the top-200's worst performer, down 6.9 per cent, while Droneshield soared to the other end of the table with a more than 10 per cent boost in a good day for defence stocks, with shipbuilder Austal up 5.1 per cent.
Local IT plays drifted 0.5 per cent into the red, tracking with a weak Friday lead from the Nasdaq but with mixed company-level performances, with Xero and Technology One carving gains as WiseTech and data centre play NextDC fell behind.
The Australian dollar is buying 66.45 US cents, down from 66.68 US cents on Friday at 5pm.
It's a big week central bank decisions, with interest rate calls incoming from the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, along with US non-farm payrolls data potentially offering some volatility to FX markets.
ON THE ASX:
The S&P/ASX200 fell 62.3 points, or 0.72 per cent, to 8,635
The broader All Ordinaries lost 59.5 points, or 0.66 per cent, to 8.923.8
The NZX 50 Lost -25.75 points (-0.19%) to 13382.39
Companies Holding Annual General Meeting (ASX 300):
Orica Limited
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended lower. The DJIA declined 0.1% to 48,416.56, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 6,816.51 and the Nasdaq fell 0.6% to 23,057.41.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Gartner Inc IT surging 5.33%, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd NCLH jumped 3.79%, and Comcast Corp CMCSA lifted 3.60%.
The biggest decliners were ServiceNow Inc NOW which dropped 11.54%, CoStar Group Inc CSGP fell 6.60%, and Coinbase Global Inc COIN lost 6.34%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.6% to 3,867.92 and the Shenzhen Composite Index slipped 0.8% to 2,454.42.
Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index declined 1.3% to 25,628.88.
Japanese shares ended lower. The Nikkei Stock Average dropped 1.3% to 50,168.11.
India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX slipped 0.1% to 85,213.36.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index gained 1.1% to 9,751.31. In Europe, shares closed higher. The Germany's DAX lifted 0.2% to 24,229.91, and the France's CAC 40 rose 0.7% to 8,124.88
