Market Announcements
Market Summary
Another action-packed day of earnings produced mixed results yesterday, with Channel Infrastructure NZ impressing and Restaurant Brands disappointing. After hovering slightly down for most of the Tuesday trading window, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 ended 0.93% under on 12,957.98 points due to a surge in volumes linked to MSCI index rebalancing. A total of 61.9 million shares changed hands, amounting to over $254.6m in value traded.
NZME reported an after-tax loss of $400,000 for the first half of its financial year, with its board declaring an interim dividend of 3 cents per share (cps). The media company, which owns BusinessDesk and The NZ Herald, gained 3.6% to $1.15 after it posted operating revenues of $165.7m for the six months to June 30, down 3% from the same period in 2024.
Restaurant Brands shares lost 0.34% to end the day at $2.90 after it too posted interim earnings. While group sales grew 2.3% to $703.2m, net profit after tax (npat) dipped 5.6% to $11.9m compared with the prior comparable period. The company said the decrease reflected “the slower-than-anticipated improvement in macroeconomic conditions across key regions”.
Channel Infrastructure NZ recorded first-half earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) of $48.5m, an interim dividend of 6.25cps, and held full-year dividend guidance. The stock finished the day up 1.82% at $2.24. After slow-and-steady declines to lows of about 40 cents in March 2021, Channel Infrastructure is now up more than 240% over the last five years.
Genesis Energy shares fell 3.32% to $2.33 after the company announced forward guidance for earnings short of market expectations. Genesis published guidance for ebitda of between $430m and $460m for the year to June 2026, with the top end below the $470.4m ebitda reported for the latest financial year.
Alongside its annual result, Vulcan Steel announced it had signed a conditional sale and purchase agreement to buy Roofing Industries for $88m. It also launched a fully underwritten equity raise of approximately $96.3m to fund the deal. Vulcan’s stock is in a trading halt on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and NZX until Aug 28 to allow completion of the institutional offer of the equity raise.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 47 points higher at 8942.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: The Australian share market has dipped as US President Donald Trump once again returned to the global stage with a move critics say threatens the independence of America's central bank.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Tuesday finished down 36.8 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 8,935.6, while the broader All Ordinaries fell 37.7 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 9,207.3.
The losses came as Mr Trump became the first US president to attempt to oust a sitting Federal Reserve governor, saying he was firing Lisa Cook over unproven allegations of mortgage fraud.
IG markets analyst Tony Sycamore said Mr Trump's move heightened concerns over rising political interference, raising the risk traders view the Fed as politically compromised.
"This could trigger a re-run of the 'Sell US assets' theme seen earlier this year," Mr Sycamore said.
"In such a scenario, both the US dollar and US equities could experience sharp declines."
Eight of the ASX's 11 sectors finished lower, with energy, consumer discretionary and consumer staples higher.
Coles helped power the consumer staples sector with its biggest gains since the COVID-19-related volatility of March 2020.
Coles shares rose 8.5 per cent to an all-time high of $22.50 after the supermarket giant beat earnings expectations nearly across the board.
Woolworths was up 2.5 per cent to $33.42 before its earnings report on Wednesday.
In the mining sector, Fortescue dropped 3.9 per cent to $19.22 after the iron ore giant reported its lowest annual profit in six years despite record shipments because of falling iron ore prices.
Elsewhere in the sector, BHP fell 1.1 per cent to $42.65 and Rio Tinto was flat at $115.42 while goldminer Northern Star added 0.2 per cent to $18.60.
In the real estate sector, Scentre Group climbed 1.5 per cent to $4.06 after the Westfield owner upgraded its full-year distribution guidance as its funds from operations grew 3.2 per cent to $587 million in the first half.
Chief executive Elliott Rusanow said the shopping mall had seen customer visits rise 3.0 per cent to 340 million in the six months and its tenants had achieved record sales of $29.3 billion over the past year.
Kelsian Group rocketed 18.1 per cent to a near one-year high of $4.76 after the transport company grew underlying net profit by two per cent to $95 million and declared a bigger-than-expected final dividend.
Other gainers on the backs of earnings results included lottery enabler Jumbo Interactive (up 10.3 per cent) and a trio of health care companies: Nanosonics (15.1 per cent), Integral Diagnostics (12.1 per cent) and Polynovo (5.4 per cent).
On the flip side, Abacus Storage King sunk 6.2 per cent after announcing its results.
In the heavyweight financial sector, NAB rose 0.4 per cent to $41.86 while CBA dropped 0.7 per cent to $169.08 and ANZ fell 0.8 per cent to $33.15. Westpac was flat at $38.30.
The Australian dollar was buying 64.80 US cents, from 65.01 US cents at 5pm on Monday.
ON THE ASX:
The S&P/ASX200 dropped 36.8 points on Tuesday, or 0.41 per cent, to 8,935.6
The broader All Ordinaries lost 38.7 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 9,207.3
The NZX 50 added 24.70 points (0.19%) to 12982.68
Companies commencing Ex-Dividend Trading Today (ASX 300):
Accent Group Limited
Amotiv Limited
GQG Partners Inc.
Oohmedia Limited
Telstra Group Limited
The Lottery Corporation Limited
Treasury Wine Estates Limited
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA gained 0.3% to 45,418.07, the S&P 500 lifted 0.4% to 6,465.94 and the Nasdaq rose 0.4% to 21,544.27.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Eli Lilly and Co LLY surging 5.84%, GE Vernova Inc GEV jumped 3.96%, and Boeing Co BA lifted 3.49%.
The biggest decliners were Keurig Dr Pepper Inc KDP which dropped 6.91%, eBay Inc EBAY fell 3.97%, and Brown-Forman Corp BF.B lost 3.87%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed mixed. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.4% to 3,868.38 and the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 0.2% to 2,440.79.
Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 1.2% to 25,524.92.
Japanese shares ended lower. The Nikkei Stock Average slipped 1% to 42,394.40.
India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX fell 1% to 80,786.54.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished lower. The FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.6% to 9,265.80. In Europe, shares closed lower. The Germany's DAX declined 0.5% to 24,152.87, and the France's CAC 40 dropped 1.7% to 7,709.81
