Market Announcements
Market Summary
The New Zealand sharemarket reversed most of the gains made on Thursday as some larger listed companies dragged it down Friday. Meanwhile, results from Vector and Winton Land garnered mixed reactions from the market. The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 1.01% or 135.68 points to 13,308.52 after 40.5 million shares, worth $177.9m, were traded. The S&P/NZX 20 index was down 1.09%, closing at 7,572.98 points, while the S&P/NZX 10 index ended the day at 12,821.20 after falling 1.10%. There were 43 gainers on the main board and 88 decliners.
Fonterra shifted the midpoint of its 2025-26 farmgate milk price forecast back to $9.50 per kg of milksolids from $9.00/kg after recent improvements in commodity prices. The co-op also advised the market of its plan to pay a special dividend from the sale of its Mainland business, in a range of 14-18c a share. Units in the Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund lifted 1.89% or 15c to $8.18 with 254,228 shares trading, worth $2m.
Elsewhere, Ebos Group fell ahead of its result out next week. Its shares were down 4.01% or $1.02 to $24.40 after trading worth $5.8m.
Auckland International Airport continued its upward trend following its positive result on Thursday, with its share price lifting 1.72% or 15c to $8.88 after 3.6m shares changed hands, worth $32.2m.
Vector also reported its half-year results, with net profit down 4% to $113m. The company also announced plans to spend half a billion dollars in capex this financial year, to June 30. Vector’s share price fell 2.03% or 10c to $4.83.
Fletcher Building, meanwhile, continued on its downward trend, falling 2.75% or 10c to $3.53. A2 Milk followed suit, dropping 2.62% or 30c to $11.17 after 1m shares worth $11.1m were traded.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 16 points higher at 9047.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's share market has clutched its highest Friday close, as earnings season continues to deliver encouraging results for its large caps.
The S&P/ASX200 shaved 4.8 points, down 0.05 per cent to 9,081.4, as the broader All Ordinaries gave up 13.4 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 9,303.2.
The top-200 eased after hitting an intraday record above 9,118 on Thursday, but appeared to defend most of its gains to clinch its highest weekly close and jumping 1.8 per cent over the five sessions.
"Earnings season so far has been pretty solid," Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda told AAP.
While there had been some pretty significant hits and misses, the areas of the market that are important for the overall indexes' performances delivered "good enough" results.
"It creates a degree of confidence there might be slightly stronger earnings growth going forward to help justify what were relatively high valuations from a historical perspective," Mr Rodda said.
It was a mixed bag at a sector level with six of 11 ending the day lower, led by IT stocks, retail and communications services, while utilities, real estate and energy stocks forged ahead.
The heavyweight financials sector trudged 0.7 per cent higher to a record high close, as three of the big four banks rallied but NAB traded flat as it took a breath from its post-earnings surge since Wednesday.
Commonwealth Bank shares ended the week at $179.67, their best close in seven months.
Insurance giant QBE was one of the day's success stories, rallying 7.1 per cent after its fist-half net profit surged by more than a fifth to $US2.2 billion ($A3.1 billion).
Basic materials slipped 0.7 per cent in the other direction, as iron ore giants Rio Tinto and Fortescue lost ground, while BHP carved a meagre advance.
Rio's three per cent slip came after it posted a 17 per cent slump in full-year net profit to $US10 billion ($A14.2 billion) on Thursday night.
Gold stocks were mixed but mostly lower as the precious metal eased during the session, just hovering above $US5,000 ($A7,103) an ounce.
Denver-headquartered gold miner Newmont tumbled 4.9 per cent after it posted a slip in fourth-quarter profits.
Battery minerals producers also sold off, with PLS and Liontown each shedding more than 4.5 per cent.
Energy stocks pushed higher as oil prices spiked on rising tensions between the US and Iran, helping lift Woodside 1.2 per cent to $27.43.
Santos shares slipped 0.9 per cent to $6.94 after agreeing to terms of a 10-year gas sales deal with the South Australian government.
Elsewhere in the sector, coal miners were broadly weaker and uranium stocks caught a bid, including Paladin, which jumped more than five per cent after winning environmental approval for a mine in Canada.
Consumer facing stocks were under pressure, with both cyclicals and staples fading 1.4 per cent - Inghams and Guzman y Gomez sold off sharply in the wake of earnings misses.
Health care stocks slipped lower despite strong performances from Telix Pharmaceuticals (+14.2 per cent) and Ramsay Health Care (+3.0 per cent) on the back of positive results and strategic updates.
In other news, shares in shipbuilder Austal jumped more than five per cent after securing a $4 billion contract with the Commonwealth.
The Australian dollar is buying 70.43 US cents, down from 70.54 US cents on Thursday at 5pm.
ON THE ASX:
The S&P/ASX200 fell 4.8 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 9,081.4
The broader All Ordinaries gained 13.4 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 9,303.2
The NZX 50 added 109.40 points (0.82%) to 13417.92
Companies commencing Ex-Dividend Trading Today (ASX 300):
Ansell Limited
Hansen Technologies Limited
Magellan Financial Group Limited
Santos Limited
Suncorp Group Limited
Vicinity Centres
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA gained 0.5% to 49,625.97, the S&P 500 climbed 0.7% to 6,909.51 and the Nasdaq rose 0.9% to 22,886.07.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Corning Inc GLW surging 7.32%, Comfort Systems USA Inc FIX jumped 6.46%, and Ciena Corp CIEN lifted 5.19%.
The biggest decliners were Akamai Technologies Inc AKAM which dropped 13.92%, CrowdStrike Holdings Inc CRWD fell 7.93%, and Oracle Corp ORCL lost 5.39%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.3% to 4,082.07 and the Shenzhen Composite Index declined 1.1% to 2,680.39.
Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 1.1% to 26,413.35.
Japanese shares ended lower. The Nikkei Stock Average slipped 1.1% to 56,825.70.
India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX rose 0.4% to 82,814.71.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index climbed 0.6% to 10,686.89. In Europe, shares closed higher. The Germany's DAX rose 0.9% to 25,260.69, and the France's CAC 40 added 1.4% to 8,515.49
