NZ Market Stages Late Rally, Down 2.4% For The Week

The New Zealand sharemarket staged a late rally Friday and was down 2.4% for the week as the Kiwi hit a 12-year low against the Australian dollar. The S&P/NZX 50 Index had a late morning slump hitting 13,074.85 but began recovering in the afternoon and closed at 13,187.34, down 11.95 points or 0.09%. The index has fallen nearly 4% for the month during the Middle East conflict and is down 2.7% for the year to date. There were 53 gainers and 76 decliners on the main board with turnover reaching 33.88 million shares worth $141.8m.

The NZ dollar fell to A82.6c against the Australian – this level was last seen in 2013. The Kiwi was also weaker against the American dollar at US58.35c, having fallen from US61c in late January.  The oil price remained steadfast above the US$100 a barrel with Brent Crude trading at $100.8 at 5.30pm NZ time but below its high for the day.

Freightways fell 39c or 2.91% to $13; Mainfreight was down $1 to $60.50; Contact Energy eased 11c to $9.19; Gentrack shed 15c or 1.94% to $7.60; and Hallenstein Glasson declined 25c or 2.54% to $9.60.  Other decliners were Vulcan Steel falling 15c or 1.96% to $7.50 after brokers trimmed its earnings forecast; Tourism Holdings down 6c or 2.52% to $2.32; AFT Pharmaceuticals decreasing 8c or 2.23% to $3.50; and CDL Investments shedding 3c or 3.8% to 76c.  Port companies Tauranga was down 7c to $7.87, and Napier declined 9c or 2.47% to $3.55. On the rise Fuel importer Channel Infrastructure increased 11c or 4% to $2.86.

Fletcher Building was up 7c or 2.09% to $3.42; Ryman Healthcare gained 4c or 1.77% to $2.30; Skellerup added 8c to $5.52; SkyCity Entertainment Group increased 2.5c or 3.25% to 79.5c; and Comvita collected 3c or 4.48% to 70c.

Metro Performance Glass, down 1c to $1.20, told the market that its full-year revenue is expected to be 9% lower than previously thought, and the bottom line will be a net loss of $2m to a net profit of $2m, significantly better than the $16.6m loss before tax in the 2025 financial year. Metroglass said at year end “we expect to report better progress on our turnaround in terms of operational progress and cost out initiatives.” A capital raise of $23.9m last September reduced debt by $35m.

Minerals Exploration, unchanged at 19c, said in its half-year report ending December that it would incur a loss of A$1.26m (NZ$1.52m) and has cash of A$4.67m ($5.65m). The miner is drilling the Waitekauri project near the Waihi Gold Mine.

Taiko Critical Minerals Limited requested a further halt to trading while discussions continue with NZX supervisor NZ RegCo over its financial model for the West Coast Barrytown Minerals Project. Taiko last traded at 21.5c.

Source: Business Desk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 61 points lower at 8547.

- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's stock market has clocked a second straight week of losses and its worst fortnight since mid-2022 as the Iran war continues to crush investor sentiment.

The S&P/ASX200 fell 11.9 points on Friday, down 0.14 per cent, to 8,617.1, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 12.3 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 8,839.1.

More than six per cent has been wiped from the combined value of Australia's 500 largest listed companies since the Middle East erupted, wiping more than $200 billion from its combined $3 trillion market cap.

It was the local stock market's worst two-week performance since an inflation surge prompted global recession fears in June 2022.

"Definitely a steady session today, but in the context of what's been a pretty brutal week, it was much needed," IG market analyst Tony Sycamore told AAP.

Making matters worse for growth stocks, rising inflation expectations have increased the odds of incoming interest rate hikes, with the earliest potentially coming at next week's Reserve Bank meeting.

"It's a massive headwind. You'll see those rate-sensitive sectors be particularly impacted, and it's combined with what's going on elsewhere in the world," Mr Sycamore said.

"It's a dent to confidence, it's a dent to growth, and you've got the double whammy of rate hikes coming through as well."

Energy stocks crept slightly higher as Brent crude prices slipped just below $US100 a barrel after the Trump administration eased sanctions on Russian oil stranded at sea.

Closer to home, the federal government will release an extra 800 million litres of petrol and diesel from domestic reserves to relieve supply pressures at the pump.

The local energy sector has surged more than nine per cent since the US-led air strikes on Iran, sparking waves of tit-for-tat attacks and Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a choke point for a fifth of global oil supply.

ASX-listed mining stocks were under continued pressure on Friday, the sector down more than two per cent as gold miners and BHP sold off.

BHP shares dipped 2.3 per cent to below $50 a share as China's state-run iron ore buyer expanded a ban on one of the miner's products.

Local gold miners were under pressure despite the precious metal firming slightly to $US5,105 ($A7,225) an ounce, as investors squared the impacts of rising fuel costs for producers.

Northern Star tanked more than 18 per cent after it flagged its second production downgrade for the year.

Australia's heavyweight financials sector provided a buffer against weakness in mining stocks, rallying one per cent with help from the big banks and insurers.

The Australian dollar is buying 70.63 US cents, down from 71.22 US cents on Thursday at 5pm, but higher for the week as bets narrow on incoming interest rate hikes.

The week had highlighted the limits to the TACO (Trump always chickens out) trade, AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said.

"The bottom line is TACO can work well when Trump has full control - like he did in relation to the tariffs last year," Dr Oliver said.

"But despite Trump's claim that 'any time I want (the war) to end it will end', that's not the case right now with Iran refusing to play ball."

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 fell 11.9 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 8,617.1

The broader All Ordinaries lost 12.3 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 8,839.1

The NZX 50 Lost -23.90 points (-0.18%) to 13163.44

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

Capricorn Metals Ltd

Chorus Limited

Data3 Limited

HUB24 Limited

Kingsgate Consolidated Limited

Ramelius Resources Limited

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:

U.S. stocks ended lower. The DJIA declined 0.3% to 46,558.47, the S&P 500 fell 0.6% to 6,632.19 and the Nasdaq slipped 0.9% to 22,105.36.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were SanDisk Corp SNDK surging 6.90%, Ares Management Corp ARES jumped 5.45%, and Micron Technology Inc MU lifted 5.13%.

The biggest decliners were Ulta Beauty Inc ULTA which dropped 14.27%, Adobe Inc ADBE fell 7.68%, and Insulet Corp PODD lost 6.85%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.8% to 4,095.45 and the Shenzhen Composite Index slipped 0.9% to 2,701.41.

Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index declined 1% to 25,465.60.

Japanese shares ended lower. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.2% to 53,819.61.

India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX dropped 1.9% to 74,563.92.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished lower. The FTSE 100 Index declined 0.4% to 10,261.15. In Europe, shares closed lower. The Germany's DAX fell 0.6% to 23,447.29, and the France's CAC 40 dropped 0.9% to 7,911.53