Market Announcements
Market Summary
Asia-Pacific markets tumbled yesterday – with New Zealand faring the best – as missile strikes continued in the Middle East and oil prices climbed higher. After Wall Street was weaker, the S&P/NZX 50 Index fell at the opening and never recovered, closing at 13,531.12 – down 89.09 points or 0.65%. There were 111 decliners and just 29 gainers on the main board with 42.39 million shares worth $126.46 million changing hands.
Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 2.05% to 8890.8 points at 6pm NZ time. The Japanese Nikkei 225 had fallen 4.2% to 53,914.83, and the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index had declined 2.78% to 25,051.06. The South Korean Kospi Index was down 9.25% to 5,255.98 points, and trading was suspended for 20 minutes after a circuit breaker was triggered because of the size of the fall. The index declined 7.2% the day before. In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 0.83% to 48,501.27 points; the S&P 500 declined 0.94% to 6,816.63; and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.02% to 22,516.69. At 5.30pm NZ time, Brent Crude oil was trading at US$82.57 (NZ$169) a barrel, a gain of more than 20% since Friday. The NZ dollar was weaker at US58.94c, down from 59.47c, against the American greenback.
At home, Fletcher Building was down 10c or 2.83% to $3.43. A media report in Australia suggested that an overseas consortium was putting together a case for a $3.2 billion takeover of the company. The primary sector received a boost with a further rise in prices at the latest Global Dairy Trade auction. This time prices jumped 5.7% across the board – the fifth consecutive rise since the start of the year. Whole milk powder, which has the biggest impact on Fonterra’s farmgate milk price, was up 4.5%, to an average of US$3863/MT, and skim milk powder rose 9.1% to US$3243/MT.
Genesis Energy, down 5c or 2.21% to $2.21, has launched its $300m rights offer, with shareholders applying for one new share for every 7.9 shares held at a price of $2.05. Genesis had earlier raised $100m through a placement. Infratil declined 28c or 2.54% to $10.75; a2 Milk was down 22c or 1.89% to $11.43; Auckland International Airport shed 9c to $8.94; and ANZ fell $2.03 or 4.29% to $45.32. Napier Port was down 8c or 2.14% to $3.65; Serko declined 11c or 5.67% to $1.83; SkyCity shed 2c or 2.4% to 81.5c; Hallenstein Glasson declined 32c or 3.03% to $10.25; and Skellerup eased 10c or 1.74% to $5.65.
Other decliners were Tourism Holdings down 8c or 3.1% to $2.50; Scott Technology decreasing 12c or 4.41% to $2.60; and Blackpearl Group falling 3.5c or 3.74% to 90c.
In the mining sector, Santana Minerals decreased 5c or 4.69% to $1.015; and Manuka Resources declined 1.5c or 8.11% to 17c.
Among the handful of gainers, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare added 10c to $41.10; Mercury Energy was up 9c to $6.44; Mainfreight collected 79c to $63.65; Briscoe Group improved 8c or 1.73% to $4.70; ikeGPS rose 7.5c or 8.29% to 98c; and Savor was up 1.5c or 7.5% to 21.5c.
Radius Residential Care was unchanged at 38c after completing the purchase of 4.3ha of development land in Belfast near Christchurch for a 100-bed care home, and 75 villas built in stages.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 95 points higher at 8953.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's share market has logged its second-worst session of 2026, on concerns a sustained oil price shock will intensify inflation and spark steeper interest rates.
The S&P/ASX200 plummeted 176.1 points on Wednesday, down 1.94 per cent to 8,901.2, as the broader All Ordinaries dropped 180.1 points, or 1.94 per cent, to 9,117.1.
Oil prices continued to rise, with Brent crude up more than 15 per cent since US-led air strikes on Iran last weekend sparked broader conflict.
With no end to the conflict in sight and as the US reportedly aiming to boost weapons production, markets would not begin pricing out risk until a point of peak escalation, Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda said.
"Until that happens, it's going to be one of those things where the markets become one trade; correlations become tight and pretty much everything swings on this big macro risk," he told AAP.
In the so-called '12-day War' between Israel and Iran in 2025, this peak was marked by Iran's largely symbolic retaliatory strikes on US allies in the region.
"The problem is it doesn't look very clear, at least right now, that we're near that point," Mr Rodda said.
"Markets are fearful that there is inertia towards a greater escalation rather than de-escalation."
The conflict has roiled global markets, particularly for net energy importers like Germany, where the DAX index has plunged almost six per cent in two sessions.
South Korea's KOSPI index has tanked almost 17 per cent since the weekend, in its worst two-day performance since 2008.
Raw materials stocks led all 11 sectors lower as greenback strength weighed on gold and silver, and as surging oil prices dimmed the global growth outlook and dragged on industrial metals producers.
Mining giant BHP tumbled 3.5 per cent to $55.68, wiping out four days of record-breaking gains in two sessions.
Rio Tinto and Fortescue also slumped, along with a host of mixed miners, lithium producers and rare earths stocks as the segment plunged three per cent into the red.
Gold stocks were hammered, despite the precious metal gaining over the session to trade at $US5,156 ($A7,368) an ounce.
The heavyweight financials sector was just that, falling almost two per cent in a broad sector slump impacting banks, insurers and investment groups.
Energy stocks were unsurprisingly the best performing, but still in the red despite modest advances from oil and gas giant Woodside and Whitehaven Coal.
The energy shock has raised the odds of intensifying already-sticky inflation, stoking fears of steeper interest rate hikes.
The market slump that followed the weekend's events echoed the moves of March 2022, eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert said.
"When Russia invaded Ukraine, oil prices surged, inflation spiked globally, and the Fed responded by hiking rates aggressively," Mr Gilbert said.??
"The risk now is that history repeats, with the Iran conflict pushing energy prices high enough to force central banks into a more hawkish stance than markets currently expect."
The Australian dollar is buying 69.99 US cents, down from 70.88 US cents on Tuesday, as the US dollar gained on safe haven buying.
The Aussie's slip came despite hotter-than-expected annual growth of 2.6 per cent doing little to dampen fears of incoming interest rate hikes.
Rate markets are pricing a one-in-three chance of a hike at the Reserve Bank's March meeting, and expect an increase by May at the latest.
ON THE ASX:
The S&P/ASX200 fell 176.1 points, or 1.94 per cent, to 8,901.2
The broader All Ordinaries lost 180.1 points, or 1.94 per cent, to 9,117.1
The NZX 50 added 19.82 points (0.15%) to 13550.94
Companies commencing Ex-Dividend Trading Today (ASX 300):
Australian Ethical Investment Limited
BHP Group Limited
Eagers Automotive Limited
EBOS Group Limited
EQT Holdings Limited
Iluka Resources Limited
Karoon Energy Ltd
L1 Group Limited
Lovisa Holdings Limited
Monadelphous Group Limited
NIB Holdings Limited
Perseus Mining Limited
QBE Insurance Group Limited
Rio Tinto Limited
Smartgroup Corporation Ltd
South32 Limited
TPG Telecom Limited
Woodside Energy Group Ltd
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA rose 0.5% to 48,739.41, the S&P 500 climbed 0.8% to 6,869.50 and the Nasdaq lifted 1.3% to 22,807.48.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Moderna Inc MRNA surging 16.09%, Coinbase Global Inc COIN jumped 14.43%, and AppLovin Corp APP lifted 10.04%.
The biggest decliners were Brown-Forman Corp BF.B which dropped 6.65%, Royal Caribbean Group RCL fell 4.68%, and Rockwell Automation Inc ROK lost 3.80%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 1% to 4,082.47 and the Shenzhen Composite Index declined 0.5% to 2,641.79.
Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 2% to 25,249.48.
Japanese shares ended lower. The Nikkei Stock Average dropped 3.6% to 54,245.54.
India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX slipped 1.4% to 79,116.19.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index rose 0.8% to 10,567.65. In Europe, shares closed higher. The Germany's DAX gained 1.7% to 24,205.36, and the France's CAC 40 climbed 0.8% to 8,167.73
