NZ Sharemarket Has Handy 0.3% Gain

The New Zealand sharemarket shrugged off renewed attacks in the Middle East with a handy gain yesterday, led by heavyweights Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Mainfreight. The S&P/NZX 50 Index struggled in the morning, hitting a low of 13,410.49, but recovered strongly in the afternoon, closing at 13,545.56, up 50.32 points, or 0.37%. It was the index’s highest close in nearly four months, coinciding with the sharp fall in oil prices, when it reached 13,617.89 points on March 5. There were 63 gainers and 74 decliners on the main board with 34.3 million shares worth $151.6m changing hands.

Brent Crude oil was trading at US$71.90 (NZ$127.25) per barrel (6pm NZ time), down from US$97.81 this month. In NZ, the average price of petrol has dropped under $3 for the first time in more than three months, with unleaded 91 reaching $2.99 a litre. On Wall Street, trading was mixed at the weekend (NZ time) with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 steady at 51,876.11 and 7354.02 points respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.24% to 25,297.62. The week was characterised by the rotation out of technology stocks, with the S&P 500 down 2% and the Nasdaq falling 4.6%. Nvidia and Alphabet lost more than 8% each; Meta Platforms, Apple and Amazon dropped more than 4% each, and SpaceX tumbled 17%.

At home, ASB Bank has lowered its inflation forecast to 4.1% for the second quarter ending June due to a fall in oil prices. The bank expects annual inflation to drop back to 2% by the middle of next year. ASB said, “while this weekend’s developments (missile and drone attacks) show that some tensions remain, the baby steps towards resolving Middle East tensions have been encouraging, with oil prices falling back towards pre-war norms around three months earlier than we had assumed through March and May. “Compared to May, the inflation risks have reduced considerably, and we now see less urgency for the Reserve Bank [RBNZ] to hike the Official Cash Rate (OCR).” The RBNZ releases its monetary policy review on July 8 and ASB believes the central bank will wait till September before commencing rate hikes. However, ASB is still predicting a sequence of 25-basis-point increases in the OCR from September onwards.  “We expect one last hike in early 2027, bringing the OCR to a peak of 3.25%.”

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 76c or 1.98% to $39.21 on trade worth $19.36m, and Mainfreight increased $1.10 or 1.83% to $61.30.  Infratil gained 12c to $15.32, and a2 Milk, increasing 26c or 2.96% to $9.05, also lent a helping hand in pushing the NZX 50 into positive territory.

Other gainers were Gentrack, up 6c to $3.82; Millennium & Copthorne Hotels NZ, up 17c or 5.35% to $3.35; and Vulcan Steel, up 21c or 3.44% to $6.31. Steel & Tube fell 1.5c or 4.29% to 33.5c. Freightways was down 29c or 2.09% to $13.60; Channel Infrastructure declined 9c or 2.74% to $3.20; Briscoe Group eased 8c or 1.71% to $4.60, and Winton Land shed 3c or 2.03% to $1.45. Ryman Healthcare was down 4c or 1.75% to $2.24; Scott Technology shed 5c or 1.9% to $2.58; Serko declined 4c or 2.68% to $1.45; Vista Group decreased 6c or $2.42; and Skellerup eased 11c to $6.52. Other decliners were Goodman NZ, down 5c, or 2.4%, to $2.03; Allied Farmers, down 2c, or 3.08%, to 63c; and Move Logistics, down 1c, or 4.55%, to 21c. Kiwi Property was up 1.56c to 94.5c.

Source: Business Desk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 23 points lower at 8833.

- close [Morningstar with AAP]: The Australian share market has moved higher after a US official said America and Iran would "stand down for now" following an exchange of fire near the Strait of Hormuz that tested their fragile ceasefire.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished Monday up 59.2 points, or 0.68 per cent, at 8,823.4, while the broader All Ordinaries gained 62.7 points, or 0.7 per cent, at 9,026.9.

In Washington, a Trump administration official said that "both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely" in the Strait of Hormuz after both sides traded tit-for-tat attacks at the weekend.

"Back and forth, back and forth, the war in the Middle East is like a tennis match that just won't end (a hybrid cricket/tennis match?)," Kiwibank economists Jarrod Kerr, Alexandra Turcu and Elliott Lowe wrote in a note.

But despite the fresh hostilities, markets were pricing in a peace deal as highly likely, and quite a few oil tankers had managed to get out of the strait during the small window of peace, the trio said.

Eight of the ASX's 11 sectors finished higher, with industrials, utilities and property closing lower.

The technology sector was the biggest gainer, climbing 4.0 per cent after sinking 5.2 per cent last week.

Wisetech Global rose 7.2 per cent, Xero added 4.5 per cent and Life360 climbed 11.6 per cent.

Other technology-focused companies also rose, with realestate.com.au owner REA Group gaining 3.8 per cent, Carsales.com owner CAR Group adding 4.2 per cent and buy now, pay later company Zip advancing 8.7 per cent.

Marc Jocum, senior product and investment strategist with Global X ETFs, said that tech investors appeared to be bargain-hunting some of the market's hardest-hit growth names, as Australian tech stocks were climbing out of drawdowns of more than 40 per cent in 2026.

Neuren Pharmaceuticals was the biggest gainer in the ASX200, surging 36.1 per cent to a five-month high of $16.60 after European Union regulators reversed a previous negative opinion to recommend approval of Neuren's flagship treatment for patients with Rett Syndrome, a rare neurodevelopmental disorder.

In the mining sector, Ramelius Resources gained 2.3 per cent to $3.07 after the goldminer agreed to sell its shuttered Edna May goldmine in Westonia, WA, to Forrestania Resources for $300 million in cash and shares.

Forrestania shares were in a trading halt as the company prepared for a capital raising to fund the acquisition.

Other goldminers finished mixed, with Northern Star dropping 2.3 per cent and Evolution rising 1.3 per cent as the precious metal changed hands at $US4,074 an ounce.

As for the iron ore giants, BHP rose 1.4 per cent to $59.82, Rio Tinto gained 0.3 per cent to $174.10 and Fortescue added 2.4 per cent to $19.52.

Energy Transition Minerals dropped 17.3 per cent to a year-and-a-half low of 4.3 cents after the Greenlandic government refused its request to extend an exploration license that covers its proposed rare earths project in the Danish territory.

In the financial sector, all of the big four retail banks finished in the green.

ANZ advanced 0.5 per cent to $35.20, Westpac rose 0.3 per cent to $35.24 and both NAB and CBA gained 1.0 per cent, to $37.89 and $163.61.

In the consumer discretionary sector, Accent Group finished flat at 71 cents after the shoe retailer urged shareholders to reject a 65-cent-per-share, zero-premium takeover offer from UK-based Frasers Group.

The Australian dollar was trading for 68.90 US cents, from 68.93 US cents at 5pm on Friday.

ON THE ASX:

??The S&P/ASX200 on Monday rose 59.2 points, or 0.68 per cent, to 8,823.4

The broader All Ordinaries gained 62.7 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 9,026.9

The NZX 50 added 35.11 points (0.26%) to 13580.67

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

Abacus Group

Abacus Storage King

Ricegrowers Limited

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:

U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA added 0.6% to 52,182.74, the S&P 500 climbed 1.2% to 7,440.43 and the Nasdaq lifted 2.1% to 25,820.14.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Corning Inc GLW surging 15.99%, KLA Corp KLAC jumped 11.80%, and Western Digital Corp WDC lifted 10.95%.

The biggest decliners were Super Micro Computer Inc SMCI which dropped 8.10%, Copart Inc CPRT fell 8.00%, and Ulta Beauty Inc ULTA lost 6.00%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed mixed. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.2% to 4,073.90 and the Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 0.1% to 2,782.80.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 1.6% to 23,026.68.

Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average climbed 0.2% to 69,468.11.

India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX fell 0.5% to 76,728.37.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished lower. The FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.2% to 10,484.22. In Europe, shares closed lower. The Germany's DAX declined 0.2% to 24,626.89, and the France's CAC 40 dropped 0.2% to 8,367.33