Market Announcements
Market Summary
New Zealand, down more than 3%, joined offshore markets in a big slump after the oil price burst through the US$100 market for the first time in five years, reigniting fears of rising inflation and slowing economic growth. The S&P/NZX 50 Index kept falling all day and closed at 13,098.83, declining 420.52 points or 3.11%. The index is down 4.5% for the month and 3.3% for the year to date. The previous biggest single-day fall was 3.3% on Feb 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. That also coincided with the last time Brent Crude oil went over US$100 a barrel. At 6pm NZ time, the crude oil was trading at US$117.4 (NZ$199), up 26.6% for the day. There were 127 decliners on the NZX’s main board and just 16 gainers, with 40.58 million shares worth $132.55m changing hands.
Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX had fallen 3.2% to 8,567.4 points at 5.30pm NZ time. The Japanese Nikkei 225 Index was down 6.85% to 51,812.4 points and the Hong Kong Hang Seng declined 2.55% to 25,101.04, This followed a weekend fall on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.95% to 47,501.55 points; S&P 500 declined 1.33% to 6,740.02; and Nasdaq Composite fell 1.59% to 22,387.68.
In the sea of red on the local market, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell $1.90 or 4.76% to $38; Infratil was down 24c or 2.21% to $10.60; Auckland International Airport declined 38c or 4.35% to $8.36; and a2 Milk decreased 42c or 3.55% to $11.42. In the energy sector, Meridian was down 16c or 2.84% to $5.47; Contact shed 23c or 2.45% to $9.1; Mercury decreased 14c or 2.17% to $6.30; and Genesis shed 7c or 3.15% to $2.15. Air New Zealand fell 4c or 7.8% to 47c; Tourism Holdings declined 14c or 5.51% to $2.40; SkyCity was down 2.5c or 3.03% to 80c; and Property for Industry decreased 8c or 3.35% to $2.31. Fletcher Building declined 10c or 2.9% to $3.28;
Mainfreight eased $1.15 or 1.81% to $62.35; Freightways was down 36c or 2.58% to $13.60; Port of Tauranga declined 31c or 3.8% to $7.85; Napier Port shed 18c or 4.59% to $3.50; and Skellerup was down 17c or 3.02% to $5.45.
In the technology sector, Gentrack fell 31c or 3.8% to $7.84, and Vista was down 3.5c or 1.86% to $1.845. Some gains Amongst the few gainers, CDL Investments increased 4c or 5.13% to 82c; PGG Wrightson was up 5c or 2.35% to $2.18; and Rua Gold rose 13c or 7.56% to $1.92. Fonterra Co-operative, up 2c to $6.26, said all the regulatory approvals for selling Mainland Group to French dairy giant Lactalis for $4.22 billion had been received and the agreement was unconditional.
Californian electronics company Bourns has extended the takeover offer of Rakon to April 13 after receiving acceptances totalling 64.82% of the issued shares, representing more than 1,900 shareholders. Bourns said if the 90% threshold was not reached and the condition was not waived, the offer of $1.55 a share would lapse.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 184 points higher at 8751.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: The local share market has suffered its worst single-day loss in 11 months amid the widening war in the Middle East and a spike in oil prices.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Monday dropped 252 points, or 2.85 per cent, to 8,599, its lowest level since mid-December.??
The broader All Ordinaries fell 2612.5 points, or 2.88 per cent, to 8,823.6.
"Awful day at the office today," said Moomoo ANZ chief executive Michael McCarthy.??
"It was ugly, really ugly."
At one point, the market was down 4.4 per cent, and while it managed to claw back some of that in afternoon trading, it was still the ASX's second-worst single day of losses since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr McCarthy noted Tokyo's stock exchange was down six per cent, and futures market indicates that the US and European markets were set to fall two per cent at the open.
"It's clear fear is stalking markets everywhere, because it's not just here," he said.
Markets were already dealing with uncertainty about the impact of artificial intelligence, fears about private credit markets and a much weaker-than-expected US jobs report that dropped Friday night Australian time, Mr McCarthy said.
But then Iran threatened over the weekend to openly target other countries' oil refineries in retaliation for the US-Israeli strikes on its energy infrastructure.
"That's what really scared investors," Mr McCarthy said.
"Because the big problem here is that gumming up the global oil markets slows down the global economy while pushing prices higher. That's the recipe for stagflation.??
"That's why markets are so fearful today."
Brent crude spiked to $US110 a barrel, the commodity's highest price since August 2022.
It had been changing hands at just over $60 at the start of 2026.
Monday's rout left the ASX200 at its lowest level since mid-December and wiped out almost $90 billion in value from its market capitalisation.
The last time the local bourse had such heavy losses was in April 2025, when it plunged 4.2 per cent amid US President Donald Trump's intensifying trade war.
Every sector of the ASX finished in the red on Monday except for energy, which closed 1.7 per cent higher.
The heavyweight materials sector, which includes mining, was the biggest loser, dropping 4.83 per cent.
BHP lost 5.1 per cent to $50.10, Rio Tinto retreated 3.8 per cent to $152.68 and South32 subtracted 5.1 per cent to $4.27.
Gold fell as low as $US5,021 an ounce before rebounding to $US5,128 by about 5pm.
Goldminer Evolution fell 5.9 per cent while peer Northern Star dropped 6.2 per cent.
All of the big four banks finished deep in the red, with CBA falling 1.8 per cent to $169.45, Westpac losing 2.2 per cent to $40.10, ANZ dropping 2.3 per cent to $36.78 and NAB declining 1.6 per cent to $46.08.
Eleven of the 200 companies in the ASX's main benchmark finished the day in the green, most of them in the energy sector.
Woodside rose 2.0 per cent, Karoon Energy grew 10.2 per cent and Yancoal advanced 13.3 per cent amid the spike in energy prices.
The losses leave the ASX200 down 1.3 per cent since the start of the year.
Mr McCarthy said many investors had made a lot of money out of buying dips in the market recently, but urged caution this time around.
"This might be the one that comes unstuck," he said.
The Aussie dollar was buying 70.09 US cents, down from 70.32 US cents on Friday afternoon.
ON THE ASX:
The S&P/ASX200 fell 252 points, or 2.85 per cent, to 8,599
The broader All Ordinaries dropped 261.5 points, or 2.88 per cent, to 8,823.6
The NZX 50 added 117.06 points (0.89%) to 13215.89
Companies commencing Ex-Dividend Trading Today (ASX 300):
Adairs Limited
Coles Group Limited
CSL Limited
Generation Development Group Limited
Helia Group Limited
IRESS Limited
Liberty Financial Group
News Corporation
PRL Global Ltd
Qantas Airways Limited
Vault Minerals Limited
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA climbed 0.5% to 47,740.80, the S&P 500 rose 0.8% to 6,795.99 and the Nasdaq added 1.4% to 22,695.95.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were SanDisk Corp SNDK surging 11.64%, Teradyne Inc TER jumped 8.57%, and Ciena Corp CIEN lifted 8.28%.
The biggest decliners were Paramount Skydance Corp PSKY which dropped 6.51%, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co AJG fell 4.54%, and CF Industries Holdings Inc CF lost 4.09%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.7% to 4,096.60 and the Shenzhen Composite Index fell 0.7% to 2,680.54.
Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 1.4% to 25,408.46.
Japanese shares ended lower. The Nikkei Stock Average dropped 5.2% to 52,728.72.
India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX fell 1.7% to 77,566.16.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished lower. The FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.3% to 10,249.52. In Europe, shares closed lower. The Germany's DAX slipped 0.8% to 23,409.37, and the France's CAC 40 dropped 1% to 7,915.36
