Market Announcements
Market Summary
The New Zealand sharemarket, led by Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, rebounded more than 1.5% yesterday after US President Donald Trump postponed planned air strikes on Iran. The S&P/NZX 50 Index traded strongly in the afternoon and closed at 12,974.32, up 211.40 points or 1.66% after falling 1.56% the day before. There were 77 gainers and 49 decliners, with a volume of 34.8 million shares worth $151.3m.
Market leader Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, rising $1.30 or 4.01% to $33.68, dominated the individual trading with $28.54m worth of shares changing hands.
Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index had risen 1.06% to 8,595.50 points at 6pm NZ time. The Brent Crude oil price was down slightly to US$110.30 (NZ$188.36) a barrel.
At home, the Producers Price Index for the March quarter showed outputs (prices received for goods and services) increased 0.8% and inputs (prices paid by producers) rose 1.4% compared with the December quarter. There was ongoing margin pressure with energy costs being the main driver. The farm expenses price index was up 1.7%. Card spending in April decreased 1.3%, reversing the March rise, and all the major retail categories were weak.
Gentrack rebounded 30c or 7.59% to $4.25 following its half-year financial result; Chorus was up 17c or 1.7% to $10.16; Spark gained 3c to $2.02; Summerset increased 30c or 4.17% to $7.50; and Freightways added 34c or 2.66% to $13.14. Fletcher Building gained 7c or 2.37% to $3.02; Infratil collected 14c to $5.26; Skellerup Holdings was up 14c or 2.4% to $5.98; Channel Infrastructure added 17c or 5.35% to $3.35; and Mercury Energy increased 12c or 1.7% to $7.16.
Contact Energy was up 26c or 5.35% to $9.98 after reporting increased mass-market electricity and gas sales in April of 372GWh, up from 284GWh in the same month last year. At May 17, South Island controlled hydro storage was 107% of mean and North Island 179%.
Heartland Group increased 4.5c or 4.41% to $1.06; Kiwi Property was up 2c or 2.2% to 93c after its annual result; and Pacific Edge added another 2c or 7.14% to 30c. South Port NZ collected 21c or 2.44% to $8.82; Eroad was up 4c or 4.21% to 99c; and Michael Hill edged ahead 1c or 2.53% to 40.5c. Sanford was down 18c or 2.3% to $7.64; Vista Group lost 3.5c or 1.72% to $1.99; Comvita declined 3c or 4.11% to 70c; Tourism Holdings decreased 5c or 2.27% to $2.15; 2 Cheap Cars shed 1.5c or 2.34% to 62.5c; and Santana Minerals dropped 2c or 2.63% to 74c.
Wine exporter Delegat Group, down 11c or 2.96% to $3.60, told the market its latest harvest delivered excellent grape quality across Marlborough, Hawke’s Bay and Barossa Valley in Australia, with a managed reduction of 19% to 38,255 tonnes compared with last year’s 47,461 tonnes. Delegat said the consecutive vintages had normalised inventory holdings and supported the group’s sales projections. AoFrio, unchanged at 7.4c, has made a placement of 65.1m shares to Wairahi Investments at 7c a share, raising $4.5m as part of a staged approach to securing additional growth capital. Advanced manufacturer Rakon, unchanged at $1.54, will be delisted from the NZX on May 27 after being taken over by California-based electronic company Bourns at $1.55 a share.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 31 points lower at 8583.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: The Australian share market has bounced back from a seven-week low after US President Donald Trump postponed new strikes on Iran.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index posted its best performance in nearly two weeks on Tuesday, climbing 99.4 points, or 1.17 per cent, to 8,604.7.
The broader All Ordinaries gained 94.1 points, or 1.08 per cent, to 8,829.5.
In Washington, Mr Trump said he had shelved plans for a "scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow" after appeals from the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
"Serious negotiations are now taking place," Mr Trump wrote in a social media post, while adding the US was ready to go forward with another attack on Iran "on a moment's notice".??
Domestically, two long-running surveys conducted by ANZ and Westpac revealed on Tuesday that consumer sentiment has ticked up recently as a spike in fuel prices eased.
Overall, however, consumers remained deeply pessimistic, said Westpac economist Matthew Hassan.
Minutes from the Reserve Bank released on Tuesday suggested the central bank would be inclined to leave interest rates on hold in June after hiking rates at its past three meetings.
Nine of the ASX's 11 sectors finished higher, with consumer staples the biggest gainer, climbing three per cent after a US broker put a bullish target on Woolworths.
The supermarket giant climbed 3.7 per cent to $34.21 after JPMorgan put a $37 price target on WOW shares, while rival Coles grew 2.7 per cent to $21.41 and alcohol retailer Endeavour added 2.3 per cent to $3.09.
In the financial sector, all of the big retail banks finished in the green.
Westpac added 1.9 per cent to $36.39, NAB grew 2.0 per cent to $37.04 and both ANZ and CBA advanced 1.3 per cent, to $35.52 and $162.88, respectively.
Insurance companies performed even better, with QBE advancing 2.9 per cent, IAG gaining 2.3 per cent and Suncorp rising 2.1 per cent.
In the heavyweight mining sector, Lynas Rare Earths declined 4.3 per cent and lithium miner PLS Group lost 1.3 per cent, while the iron ore giants managed to claw back most of their morning losses in afternoon trading.
BHP finished down 0.1 per cent to $58.70, Fortescue dipped 0.3 per cent to $21.88 and Rio Tinto dropped 0.2 per cent to $178.66.
In the communications sector, Singaporean mobile phone operator Tuas rose 17.6 per cent, clawing back some of Monday's massive 62.8 per cent plunge that followed word its Simba subsidiary may have been using unauthorised radio frequency bands.
In tech, Technology One dropped 2.9 per cent to $27.80 after the software company delivered a half-year profit after tax of $66.8 million, up six per cent from a year ago.
The Australian dollar was trading for 71.34 US cents, from 71.48 US cents at 5pm on Monday.
ON THE ASX:
The S&P/ASX200 climbed 99.4 points, or 1.17 per cent, to 8,604.7
The broader All Ordinaries gained 94.1 points, or 1.08 per cent, to 8,829.5
The NZX 50 Lost -72.72 points (-0.56%) to 12901.6
Companies Holding Annual General Meeting (ASX 300):
Dalrymple Bay Infrastructure Limited
Stanmore Resources Limited
Waypoint REIT Limited
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended lower. The DJIA dropped 0.6% to 49,363.88, the S&P 500 slipped 0.7% to 7,353.61 and the Nasdaq fell 0.8% to 25,870.71.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were NVIDIA Corp NVDA surging -0.77%, Apple Inc AAPL jumped 0.38%, and Amazon.com Inc AMZN lifted -2.08%.
The biggest decliners were NVIDIA Corp NVDA which dropped 0.77%, Apple Inc AAPL fell 0.38%, and Amazon.com Inc AMZN lost 2.08%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lifted 0.9% to 4,169.54 and the Shenzhen Composite Index added 0.5% to 2,877.17.
Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index climbed 0.5% to 25,797.85.
Japanese shares ended lower. The Nikkei Stock Average slipped 0.4% to 60,550.59.
India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX declined 0.2% to 75,200.85.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index rose 0.1% to 10,330.55. In Europe, shares closed mixed. The Germany's DAX gained 0.4% to 24,400.65, and the France's CAC 40 fell 0.1% to 7,981.76
