Market Announcements
Market Summary
One large transaction for Ebos Group led down the NZ sharemarket yesterday, as the market’s largest participants followed suit. The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed down 0.49% or 66.925 points at 13,515.62 after 28.1 million shares, worth $161.9 million, were traded. The S&P/NZX 20 index was down 0.65%, closing at 7707.31 points, while the S&P/NZX 10 index ended the day at 12,897.70 after falling 0.66%. There were 65 gainers on the main board and 59 decliners.
Hamilton Hindin Greene investment adviser Jeremy Sullivan said the market was off, but Fonterra was the news of the day. Fonterra Fonterra’s total group profit after tax for the three months to Oct 31 was $278m, up $15m – the equivalent of 17 cents per share. “Business as usual for them to a certain extent. There’s nothing surprising in the end, the narrowing of the farmgate milk price will help farmers with their with their budgeting and so forth at 950 kilogrammes of milk solids,” Sullivan said. “It’s still a relatively buoyant year although it’s been eight global dairy trade auctions in a row that have come down. So, there’s going to be a bit of pressure on those wholesale prices over the next year.”
Fonterra Shareholders' Fund units traded in light volume with 104,798 units changing hands on turnover worth $826,646. Ebos Group led the day’s downturn after a single trader sold 1.5m shares, out of the $44.4m traded by close, with its share price falling 1.58% or 45c to $28.05.
Elsewhere, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare also dragged the market down, falling 0.47% or 18c to $38.20 on turnover worth $26.1m. Vital Healthcare completed its share purchase plan, shedding 4.55% or 9c to $1.89 on turnover worth $2.9m. Sullivan said there may be a small potential overhang, but those that have subscribed to that are now “underwater”.
Meridian Energy fell for another day, dropping 1.22% or 7c to $5.65, while Infratil fell 1.77% or 21c to $11.65.
Meanwhile, New Talisman Gold Mines had its trading halt lifted and announced it is currently in negotiations with Terra Firma Mining. The business said it expects to open a wider capital raise in February 2026.
Wall Street stocks shrugged off early weakness on Wednesday and finished with solid gains after poor US hiring data boosted expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week. The report showed US companies shed 32,000 jobs in November, payroll firm ADP said, in a surprise drop that added to worries about economic weakness while also boosting expectations for Fed monetary policy relief.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 20 points higher at 8635.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's share market has clutched a third straight session of gains, riding on the coat tails of red-hot copper producers and an afternoon recovery for the banks.
The S&P/ASX200 rose 23.2 points on Thursday, up 0.27 per cent to 8,618.4, as the broader All Ordinaries gained 12.5 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 8,906.7.
"We seem to be a little bit on hold, and that makes sense given what we've got coming up," Moomoo market strategist Michael McCarthy told AAP.
"Of course, we're expecting a drop in US rates and people are positioned ahead of that, this next big market event, and now we're waiting."
Conversely, local rates markets brought forward their expectations of interest rate hikes, fully pricing a 25 basis point increase by November 2026 and dragging on rate-sensitive sectors.
Mining stocks were by far the best-performing segment, up 0.9 per cent on the back of record copper prices, while developer-exposed real estate plays led property stocks lower against a backdrop of high construction costs and a gloomier borrowing cost outlook.
Goodman Group (down 2.7 per cent), Dexus (down 4.0 per cent) and Charter Hall (down 3.2 per cent) were heavy in a segment-wide sea of red.
Copper producers and copper-exposed stocks were the stars of the day, with Capstone, South32, BHP, Rio Tinto and Sandfire carving out five of the six best performances of the top-200 with rallies of between three and eight per cent.
The base metal has surged to record highs on fears US tariffs will trigger a global supply squeeze, catapulting Rio Tinto shares to a fresh record high above $140 per share.
All that glittered was not gold, as the precious metal retreated from recent highs to buy $US4,190 ($A6,337) an ounce, weighing on Northern Star, which tumbled more than three per cent.
Pantoro Gold took the top-200's wooden spoon with a 6.6 per cent tumble and is down more than 15 per cent since key shareholder Tulla Resources unloaded a hefty chunk of stock earlier in the week. Incidentally, the slump relegated the miner from the ASX200.
Rare earths and lithium producers also sold off as investors rebalanced their materials allocations in favour of copper plays, dragging on Liontown (down 6.0 per cent), Pilbara Minerals (down 4.1 per cent) and Lynas Rare Earths (down 4.2 per cent).
Energy stocks rose 0.6 per cent, tracking with gains for Woodside and Santos as oil prices firmed on Ukrainian attacks on Russian crude infrastructure and deadlocked peace talks between the warring nations.
Coal producers ticked higher, while uranium stocks ran into some profit-taking after a somewhat rocky run-up since the same time last week.
Consumer staples were under selling pressure, down 0.9 per cent as Coles and Treasury Wines slipped more than 1.7 per cent each, while discretionaries ticked 0.2 per cent lower.
In company news, Vulcan Energy shares cratered by more than a third after a 398?million euro ($A710?million) equity raising, issuing roughly an extra 178 million shares.
The Australian dollar is trading at four-week highs of 66.11 US cents, up from 65.83 on Wednesday at 5pm, the Aussie buoyed by the shifting expectations of the Reserve Bank's road ahead, which NAB economists confirmed appeared to be narrowing.
"We continue to forecast the RBA on hold in 1H26 for now, but this forecast will be under review should evidence of a tighter labour market, more persistent price pressures or a further acceleration in domestic economic activity be realised in coming months," NAB group chief economist Sally Auld wrote in a report.
ON THE ASX:
The S&P/ASX200 rose 23.2 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 8,618.4
The broader All Ordinaries gained 12.5 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 8,906.7
The NZX 50 Lost -54.09 points (-0.40%) to 13461.53
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended mixed. The DJIA dropped 0.1% to 47,850.94, the S&P 500 added 0.1% to 6,857.12 and the Nasdaq gained 0.2% to 23,505.14.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Dollar General Corp DG surging 14.01%, SanDisk Corp SNDK jumped 9.82%, and GE Vernova Inc GEV lifted 4.48%.
The biggest decliners were Intel Corp INTC which dropped 7.45%, LyondellBasell Industries NV LYB fell 6.24%, and Albemarle Corp ALB lost 5.81%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.1% to 3,875.79 and the Shenzhen Composite Index declined 0.1% to 2,438.53.
Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index climbed 0.7% to 25,935.90.
Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average rose 2.3% to 51,028.42.
India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX lifted 0.2% to 85,265.32.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index added 0.2% to 9,710.87. In Europe, shares closed higher. The Germany's DAX gained 0.8% to 23,882.03, and the France's CAC 40 climbed 0.4% to 8,122.03
