NZ Sharemarket Ends First Week Up Over 1%

The New Zealand sharemarket ended tamely after a bright start to the week, and attention switched to a United States court ruling on the legality of the trade tariffs.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index had its second successive flat day, closing down 20.61 points or 0.15% to 13,696.25 after reaching an intraday high of 13,752.63.

But the index still finished the first trading week of the new year with a gain of more than 1%, and is within record territory.

It was a quiet day trading-wise with 21.8 million shares worth $85.5m changing hands.

There were 70 gainers and 53 decliners on the main board.

Local and international stocks

Spark gained 1c to $2.31 and Auckland International Airport rose 4c to $8.54, with Fisher & Paykel Healthcare also active; turnover in the three stocks was $11.35m, $11.41m and $12.66m respectively.

Heavyweight Fisher & Paykel Healthcare’s decline of 46c to $38.44 drove the market down.

All eyes were on the US markets overnight. They had closed the previous day in uncertainty as investors awaited the December jobs report and a Supreme Court opinion on the legality of the trade tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was still in a hearty mood, gaining 0.55% to 49,266.11 and nearing its record high as the rotation out of technology stocks continued.

This pressured the Nasdaq Composite, falling 0.44% to 23,480.02 points while the S&P 500 was flat at 6,921.46.

Nvidia was down 2.21% to US$185 (NZ$322); Palantir Technologies decreased 2.65% to US$176.86; and Broadcom declined 3.24% to US$332.38.

Economists in the US expect payroll growth of about 70,000, with the unemployment rate slightly lower at 4.5%.

They believe the report will be key for the Federal Reserve's path ahead, with less than three weeks before its next interest rate decision.

Commentators said the Supreme Court decision carried huge implications for the US administration's economic strategy and could restructure global trade should the court find the tariffs unlawful.

If they did, there could be a potential fight over obtaining up to US$150 billion in refunds from the US government for duties already paid by importers.

Reuters said anticipation that the court will strike down the tariffs Trump imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 rose after the November arguments in the case when conservative and liberal justices alike voiced scepticism about whether that law gave him the authority to levy the duties.

Other stocks

On the local market, there were few major moves – with many market participants still on holiday.

Amongst leading stocks, Infratil eased 17c to $11.26; and Gentrack declined 30c or 3.45% to $8.40.

While investors wait for the updates of the Christmas-New Year spending from the retail stocks, Hallenstein Glasson was up 10c to $9.90; KMD Brands added 0.005c to 28.5c and so did Michael Hill to 45.5c.

Ryman Healthcare neared the $3 mark after gaining 2c to $2.97; a2 Milk added 13c to $10.78; Vulcan Steel was up 12c to $8.75; Goodman Property Trust collected 4c to $2.02; and Green Cross Health increased 5c to $1.15.

In the technology sector, Eroad was up 2.5c or 2.07% to $1.23; Serko gained 5c to $3.15; and Vista Group was down 7c or 2.79% to $2.44.

Source: BusinessDesk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 31 points higher at 8745.

- close [Morningstar with AAP]: The Australian share market has finished flat heading into another important US jobs readout and a potential blockbuster Supreme Court ruling on the legality of Donald Trump's trade war.

The S&P/ASX200 index on Friday ended three points lower at 8,717.8, a drop of 0.03 per cent, while the All Ordinaries dipped about a half-point to 9,045.9.

For the week, the ASX200 dropped 10 points, or 0.1 per cent, in its second straight week of losses.

"At a macro level, there's no clear directional bias in the markets heading into US non-farm payrolls data," Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda said.??

The report, to be released on Friday night Australia time, is the first "clean and complete" batch of US jobs figures since the government shutdown in October and November, Mr Rodda noted.??

The jobs data was important as it would influence the Federal Reserve's path on interest rates, with current expectations saying the Fed would pause for a few months before resuming its campaign of cuts, Mr Rodda said.

It's also possible the US Supreme Court could soon issue a ruling on the legality of Mr Trump's sweeping tariffs, which the American president imposed without congressional approval as a supposed emergency measure.??

"There is a big chance that the Supreme court rules Trump's tariffs illegal," said AMP deputy chief economist Diana Mousina.

In that event the US president has said he'll look to reimpose the tariffs under a different law, but such a ruling would still be a blow to his trade policy, Ms Mousina said.

Four of the ASX's 11 sectors finished higher and six finished lower, with utilities flat.

Energy was the biggest mover, rising 2.1 per cent as oil prices rebounded. Brent crude was changing hands at US$62 a barrel, after falling below $US60 shortly after the US invasion of Venezuela.

Woodside gained 2.8 per cent to $23.59, Santos added 3.5 per cent to $6.15 and Karoon Energy climbed 5.1 per cent to $1.535.

In the mining sector, Rio Tinto plunged 6.3 per cent to $143.06 announcing it was in preliminary talks to acquire Glencore in an all-share transaction that push it past BHP as world's biggest miner.

BHP gained 0.8 per cent to $47.72, while Fortescue dipped 0.2 per cent to $22.71 and Northern Star added 0.5 per cent to $24.72.

BlueScope Steel rose 2.0 per cent to $30 after its largest shareholder, AustralianSuper, said it supported the board's decision to rebuff a $13.2 billion takeover offer from SGH and Steel Dynamics.

"Based on our current valuation, we would only support a transaction that was materially higher than the price of $30 per share currently proposed," said AustralianSuper, which on Tuesday spent around $75 million buying another 2.6 million BlueScope shares, upping its stake from 12.5 per cent to 13.5 per cent.

Elsewhere, all of the big four banks finished lower, with ANZ dropping 0.6 per cent to $35.45, Westpac declining 0.3 per cent to $37.90, NAB dipping 0.2 per cent to $41.02 and CBA edging 0.1 per cent lower at $153.22.

Codan was the biggest gainer in the ASX200, soaring 16.9 per cent to an all-time high of $36.89 after the South Australian metal detector and walkie-talkie manufacturer said it expected to announce $394 million in revenue for the first half, up 29 per cent from a year ago.

The Australian dollar was trading for 66.95 US cents, down from 67.03 US cents on Thursday at 5pm.

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 dropped three points, or 0.03 per cent, to 8,717.8

The broader All Ordinaries dipped by six-tenths of a point, or 0.01 per cent, to 9,045.9

The NZX 50 Lost -17.83 points (-0.13%) to 13678.42

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]: U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA added 0.5% to 49,504.07, the S&P 500 gained 0.6% to 6,966.28 and the Nasdaq climbed 0.8% to 23,671.35.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were SanDisk Corp SNDK surging 12.81%, Builders FirstSource Inc BLDR jumped 12.06%, and Intel Corp INTC lifted 10.76%.

The biggest decliners were Las Vegas Sands Corp LVS which dropped 4.77%, CoStar Group Inc CSGP fell 4.68%, and Datadog Inc DDOG lost 3.97%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.9% to 4,120.43 and the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 1.3% to 2,660.05.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index climbed 0.3% to 26,231.79.

Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average lifted 1.6% to 51,939.89.

India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX slipped 0.7% to 83,576.24.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index gained 0.8% to 10,124.60. In Europe, shares closed higher. The Germany's DAX climbed 0.5% to 25,261.64, and the France's CAC 40 lifted 1.4% to 8,362.09