NZ Sharemarket Rallies, Up Almost 1%

The New Zealand sharemarket rallied nearly 1% yesterday after the large block of Contact Energy shares was quickly snapped up, and US President Donald Trump indicated he was in the final stages of a peace deal with Iran. Following another rebound on Wall Street, the S&P/NZX 50 Index climbed to 12,878.07, a gain of 117.04 points or 0.92%. There were 92 gainers and 48 decliners on the main board, and turnover surged to 109.7 million shares worth $692.8m.

The bulk of the trading was attributed to Contact, with 57.8m shares worth $535.4m changing hands, following Infratil's sale of 53.5m shares, or 5% of its holding in Contact. Infratil still holds a 9.08% stake. Infratil, with a near $500m windfall, rose 61c, or 3.99%, to an all-time high of $15.90. Contact fell 64c, or 6.41%, to $9.34 as its share price headed down to the discounted sale price of $9.25 a share. Infratil has jumped ahead of Meridian Energy, with a market capitalisation of $15.8 billion, as the second-biggest local stock. Meridian was up 12c or 2.07% to $5.91.

Jeremy Sullivan, an investment adviser with Hamilton Hindin Greene, said the Contact sell-down had weighed on the market, but that has now passed. “The US markets were positive with the Nvidia result largely as expected,” he said. “Trump is always saying he’s close to a deal, but fingers crossed. Time will tell. “Three tankers with six million barrels of oil onboard moved through the Hormuz Strait overnight, so that’s an encouraging sign.” Brent Crude oil fell 6% after Trump’s latest remarks and was trading at US$105.80 (NZ$180.48) a barrel.

Chipmaking giant Nvidia, up 1.3% to US$223.47, beat analysts’ forecasts after reporting first-quarter revenue of US$81.6b. Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index had risen 1.43% to 8,616.20 points at 6pm NZ time.

At home, NZ’s trade surplus in April widened to a record $1.9b, compared with a revised $430m surplus in March. Exports surged 12% year-on-year to $8.6b, and imports were up 3.4% to $6.7m. The weak NZ dollar is keeping exports competitive, while the higher global commodity prices are also producing gains for exporters.

Mainfreight rebounded $2.15 or 4.01% to $55.75; Freightways was up 27c or 2.11% to $13.09; Port of Tauranga gained 27c or 3.35% to $8.34; Fletcher Building added 8c or 2.73% to $3.01; and Vista Group increased 6c or 2.64% to $2.33. Serko increased 10c or 6.9% to $1.55; Summerset gained 22c or 3.1% to $7.31; Ryman Healthcare added 6c or 3.02% to $2.05; and Scales Corp collected 13c or 2.2% to $6.04.

AFT Pharmaceuticals surged 27c or 7.65% to $3.80 after reporting a 22% increase in full-year revenue to $254.7m and 23% rise in net profit to $14.73m. It is paying a final dividend of 1.8c a share on July 4. AFT told the market it is targeting revenue of more than $300m in full-year 2027 through continued expansion in Australasia and a strong product-launch programme internationally. The Australasian market grew the revenue share by 16% to $210.5m.

Turners Automotive, down 1c to $8.58, reported a 9% increase in revenue to $451.2m and a 1.1% drop in net profit to $38.17m for the 12 months ending March. It is paying an interim dividend of 9c a share on July 29. Turners said the fourth quarter delivered record profit growth in the auto retail, finance and insurance divisions, but from late March, the onset of the US-Iran conflict softened consumer sentiment. The finance loan book grew 27% to $566m. The company has brought forward its gross profit target of $65m (a 16% rise from $63.2m in the past year) to the 2027 financial year, from full-year 2028.

Tower declined 16.5c or 7.89% to $1.92 after half-year revenue decreased 2% to $291.17m and net profit fell 54% to $22.85m. It is paying an interim dividend of 5c a share on June 25. Tower said the revenue drop was caused by customer remediation payments and lower average premiums compared with the previous corresponding period, but growth in policies (home insurance up 9%) and customers (up 5% to 327,000) was positive.   Tower, maintaining a $45m large event allowance, recorded four large events in the first half, with an estimated combined cost of $18.5m.

My Food Bag was up 3c or 11.32% to 29.5c on an improved annual result, with revenue increasing 5% to $170.22m and net profit rising 5.3% to $6.86m. It is paying a final dividend of 1.15c a share on June 18.

Source: BusinessDesk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 35 points higher at 8681.

- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Optimism for a Persian Gulf peace deal has supported the Australian stock market's best day since early April, helped by a surprise uptick in unemployment that softened the odds of further interest rate hikes.

The S&P/ASX200 surged 125.1 points on Thursday, up 1.47 per cent, to 8,621.7, as the broader All Ordinaries gained 123.8 points, or 1.42 per cent, to 8,840.8.

"Today's ASX rebound is a classic relief rally after weeks of heavy selling, with strong Wall Street leads, Nvidia-driven tech optimism and a slight cooling in geopolitical tension all arriving at the same time - giving the market the oxygen it was waiting for," Vantage senior market analyst Hebe Chen told AAP.??

"The weaker April jobs report added the final piece, taking some heat out of near-term Reserve Bank hike expectations and giving equities a cleaner runway to bounce."

Strong rallies in banks, miners and real estate trusts led the market higher, with eight of 11 local sectors improving.

Energy and utilities stocks underperformed, as the Brent crude benchmark dipped to $US106 a barrel from more than $US111 on Wednesday.

Woodside fell two per cent, while coal miners were mixed and uranium stocks clawed back some recent losses.

Mega miners Rio Tinto and BHP each soared more than three per cent as copper prices improved but iron ore eased to less than $US109 a tonne.

Gold miners broadly improved as the precious metal hovered about $US4,535 ($A6,365) an ounce, while Northern Star tumbled two per cent after managing director Stuart Tonkin announced his retirement after almost 10 years at the helm.

Gina Rinehart-backed Arafura Rare Earths charged more than five per cent higher after green-lighting its flagship ore-to-oxide Nolans Project in the NT.

James Hardie shares surged by a similar amount after its sales swelled by a quarter between its 2025 and 2026 financial years.

The big four banks and Macquarie all carved out gains after coming under pressure earlier in the week, with NAB and Westpac out front with advances of two per cent or more.

Real estate trusts gained more than two per cent in a broad sector upswing, buoyed by improving risk sentiment and after the soft jobs print moderated investors' fears of interest rate hikes.

Rates markets now tip one more increase by year-end.??

"Consequently, the RBA's terminal rate is now viewed at 4.60 per cent - a significant drop from the 4.85 per cent peak we saw at the end of last month," IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said.

Industrials stocks bounced 1.6 per cent as peace deal hopes launched Qantas and Virgin Australia higher, while Brambles clawed back some of the week's almost 25 per cent post-guidance-downgrade wipe-out.

Consumer discretionaries bounced 1.3 per cent with strong performances from Temple & Webster, Domino's Pizza and JB Hi-Fi, despite cost pressures clouding the segment's outlook.

In company news, piercing chain Skin Kandy rallied 6.8 per cent to $2.35 as it made its ASX debut.

Buy-now, pay-later offering Zip Co jumped 2.7 per cent to $2.26 after winning the right to continue using the name Zip following settlement of a trademark stoush with mortgage lender Firstmac.

The Australian dollar is buying 71.13 US cents, up from 71.02 US cents on Wednesday at 5pm.

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 gained 125.1 points, or 1.47 per cent, to 8,621.7

The broader All Ordinaries gained 123.8 points, or 1.42 per cent, to 8,840.8

The NZX 50 added 42.21 points (0.33%) to 12920.28

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:

U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA lifted 0.6% to 50,285.66, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 7,445.72 and the Nasdaq added 0.1% to 26,293.10.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Ralph Lauren Corp RL surging 13.79%, International Business Machines Corp IBM jumped 12.47%, and Lumentum Holdings Inc LITE lifted 11.09%.

The biggest decliners were Intuit Inc INTU which dropped 19.98%, EchoStar Corp SATS fell 9.42%, and Walmart Inc WMT lost 7.21%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 2% to 4,077.28 and the Shenzhen Composite Index fell 2.4% to 2,800.37.

Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 1% to 25,386.52.

Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average added 3.1% to 61,684.14.

India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX declined 0.2% to 75,183.36.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index climbed 0.1% to 10,443.47. In Europe, shares closed lower. The Germany's DAX dropped 0.5% to 24,606.77, and the France's CAC 40 fell 0.4% to 8,086.00