NZ Sharemarket Rebounds With 1.6% Gain

The New Zealand sharemarket rebounded strongly yesterday with a gain of more than 1.5% as the Reserve Bank of NZ soothed nervousness over bringing forward interest rate hikes. The S&P/NZX 50 Index traded firmly in the afternoon after the central bank left the Official Cash Rate (OCR) unchanged at 2.25% and indicated there might be just one rate increase by the end of the year. The index closed at 13,247.02, up 215.4 points or 1.65%, and erased nearly half of the previous three days’ losses. The index is down 2.5% year-to-date. There were 86 gainers and 47 decliners on the main board with 38 million shares worth $137.3m changing hands.

The Reserve Bank of NZ’s (RBNZ) monetary policy statement was more measured than what some people were expecting.  The RBNZ said economic growth is broadening across sectors of the economy, including manufacturing, construction, and some retail, and is expected to increase this year. The bank was confident that inflation (currently 3.1%) would return to the 1-3% target band by the end of March and would fall to the 2% midpoint over the next 12 months, driven by spare capacity in the economy and modest wage growth. The NZ dollar fell 0.8% to US59.9c against the American greenback after the RBNZ statement.

Spark and Fletcher Building, both recovering stocks, provided expected half-year results. Spark was down 1c to $2.13 after reporting a 1.2% drop in revenue to $1.89 billion and 82.9% rise in net profit to $64m for the six months ending December.  Operating earnings (ebitdai) increased 10.3% to $448m, and Spark is paying an interim dividend of 8c a share on April 10. The telco confirmed its full-year ebitdai guidance of 1.01b-$1.07b, and free cash flow of $290m-$330m. It also made $51m worth of cost savings. Spark said mobile service revenue grew 1.6% to $499mm, broadband stabilised at $303m, and cloud revenue increased 1.7% to $120m.  “In the coming six months, we plan to add over 100 additional cell site builds and upgrades, revamp our international roaming experience, and launch satellite-to-mobile text and data services,” Spark said.

Fletcher Building was up 1c to $3.51 after reporting a steady half-year result, with revenue of $2.86b, up 0.5%, and net profit of $45m – a big turnaround from the $88m loss in the last six months of the 2025 financial year. Operating earnings (ebit) were $145m. Fletcher said the first half was another demanding period for the building industry, with subdued markets across NZ and Australia. Conditions differed between a particularly weak first quarter and a more stable second quarter. Residential and civil demand in NZ is likely to remain relatively subdued through the 2026 financial year, with a more meaningful recovery not anticipated until calendar year 2027.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare and Ebos Group drove the rebound, rising $1.12 or 3.14% to $36.80, and 96c or 4.04% to $24.70, respectively. Infratil was up 28c or 2.61% to $11.02; Contact Energy gained 15c to $9.19; a2 Milk added 36c or 3.22% to $11.55; and Auckland International Airport increased 16c or 1.9% to $8.57. Gentrack rose 40c or 5.69% to $7.43; Property for Industry increased 7c or 3.18% to $2.27; Chorus was up 15c to $9.26; and Bremworth collected 2.5c or 3.76% to 69c.

Tower was up 1c to $1.83 after telling shareholders at the annual meeting that gross written premium increased 2% to $204m for the first four months of the 2026 financial year compared with the previous corresponding period. Tower's NZ policy numbers increased 5%, driven by growth in house and contents policies, and total customer numbers rose 12,000 year‑on‑year to 323,000 at the end of January. Tower’s chair, Michael Stiassny, has retired and been replaced by Naomi Ballantyne, who founded Partners Life in 2010 and was sold in 2023. Sky TV, up 4c to $3.22, after earlier telling the market it will not be renewing its agreement with Warner Bros Discovery for the HBO Max content when the current agreement ends mid-June. Warner Bros is preparing to launch its direct-to-consumer service in NZ.

Source: Business Desk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 41 points higher at 9005.

- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's share market has ended the session higher as NAB became the latest large-cap to outshine forecasts in a so-far encouraging earnings season.

The S&P/ASX200 rose 48.1 points on Wednesday, up 0.54 per cent to 9,007, as the broader All Ordinaries gained 56.2 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 9,238.7.

An almost four per cent surge in NAB shares supported the financial sector after the bank's $2.2 billion December-quarter net profit blew away expectations.

"We have seen a reasonably good earnings season so far, and with the ASX200 pushing back towards 9000, there's some green shoots of optimism that maybe the outlook for Aussie corporates is improving," Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda told AAP.

As for NAB becoming the third of the big four to beat earnings expectations and whether this could justify lofty valuations in the sector, he said it seemed less likely.

"I think it'll ease the concerns but won't diminish them, and it will still mean that banks are trading at a pretty expensive multiple," Mr Rodda said.

"The risk-reward is kind of questionable with valuations up here."

Elsewhere in finance, Suncorp shares tumbled more than four per cent after the company paid out $1.3 billion in natural disaster claims, mostly relating to destructive storms in Queensland.

Of 11 local sectors, only basic materials lost ground, slipping 0.2 per cent as IT stocks, real estate and consumer cyclicals each jumped more than one per cent.

Gold miners were mixed but broadly lower, despite the precious metal gaining ground during the session to trade hands at $US4,936 ($A6,981) an ounce.

BlueScope Steel shares jumped 2.6 per cent to $28.74 as a takeover offer from the Stokes family-controlled SGH came back into play in a deal worth roughly $15 billion at $32.35 per share.

In the mega caps, BHP eased 0.9 per cent after surging to record highs on Tuesday on the back of strong first-half results, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue edged higher.

Battery minerals and rare earths producers caught bids, with Lynas Rare Earths gaining more than three per cent and Liontown shares jumping more than six per cent to $1.85.

Nickel Industries and Iluka Resources each traded more than five per cent higher after handing down solid trading updates.

Energy stocks firmed by 0.6 per cent despite Santos slipping by the same magnitude in the other direction after its full-year profit shrank for a third straight year.

Coal producers were broadly lower while investors bought up uranium stocks, with Paladin, Deep Yellow and Bannerman Energy up between four and 5.6 per cent.

Oil prices edged higher during the session after slipping overnight on reports the US and Iran had come to an understanding on the main principles for an agreement to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions in return for sanction relief.

Real estate stocks rallied 1.5 per cent on the back of strong earnings from Dexus and Mirvac, which each pushed more than 5.8 per cent higher.

Vicinity Centres was less impressive, slipping 0.8 per cent despite significantly improving its first-half net profit after tax to $805.6 million, compared to $492.6 in the 2025 equivalent half.

The Australian dollar is buying 70.69 US cents, up slightly from 70.62 US cents on Tuesday at 5pm, firming ahead of Australian labour force data due on Thursday.

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 rose 48.1 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 9,007

The broader All Ordinaries gained 56.2 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 9,238.7

The NZX 50 added 27.95 points (0.21%) to 13274.97

Companies Holding Annual General Meeting (ASX 300):

Aristocrat Leisure Limited

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

Humm Group Limited

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:

U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA lifted 0.3% to 49,662.66, the S&P 500 added 0.6% to 6,881.31 and the Nasdaq gained 0.8% to 22,753.64.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Global Payments Inc GPN surging 16.47%, Garmin Ltd GRMN jumped 9.44%, and MGM Resorts International MGM lifted 8.52%.

The biggest decliners were Palo Alto Networks Inc PANW which dropped 6.82%, Crown Castle Inc CCI fell 4.82%, and Genuine Parts Co GPC lost 3.84%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slipped 1.3% to 4,082.07 and the Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 1.1% to 2,680.39.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index gained 0.5% to 26,705.94.

Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average added 1% to 57,143.84.

India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX gained 0.3% to 83,734.25.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index climbed 1.2% to 10,686.18. In Europe, shares closed mixed. The Germany's DAX lifted 1.1% to 25,278.21, and the France's CAC 40 was unchanged at 8,429.03