Market Announcements
Market Summary
The New Zealand sharemarket had a small fall, with several leading stocks under selling pressure, but there were encouraging signs for the housing market. The S&P/NZX 50 Index began drifting at lunchtime and was helped by a late rise to close on 13,582.19, down 28.31 points or 0.21% after reaching an intraday high of 13,624.6. Trading was lighter with 28.3 million shares worth $104.9m changing hands, and there were 67 gainers and 72 decliners on the main board.
The latest Stats NZ numbers showed that 39,737 new homes were consented in the 12 months ending May, up 19% on the previous year. It was the highest level since 2023, but the annual increase followed declines in May for the past three years.
In the US, semiconductor stocks were again weaker amid profit-taking, as the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.66% to 26,040.03 and the S&P 500 fell 0.22% to 7,483.23.
At home, Ebos Group declined 56c or 2.66% to $20.50; Chorus decreased 25c or 2.53% to $9.62; Port of Tauranga was down 22c or 2.49% to $8.61; a2 Milk shed 12c to $8.86; and Spark fell 7c or 3.65% to $1.85. Ryman Healthcare decreased 5c or 2.25% to $2.17; Serko was down 4c or 2.68% to $1.45; Vector eased 10c or 2% to $4.90; NZX declined 3c or 2.07% to $1.42; and The Warehouse hit an all-time low after shedding 3c or 5.26% to 54c. Market leader Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 49c to $39.04; Michael Hill rose 3c or 7.59% to 42.5; and Private Land and Property Fund gained 2.8c or 2.24% to $1.27. Delegat Group increased 13c or 3.35% to $4.01; Santana Minerals added 1.5c or 2.73% to 56.5c; and PaySauce was up 1c or 4.35% to 24c.
The dual-listed banking stocks rebounded, with Westpac up $1.08, or 2.57%, to $43.05 and ANZ gaining 93c, or 2.24%, to $42.50. Gentrack, up 9c or 2.33% to $3.95, made an investor presentation highlighting its use of artificial intelligence. The utilities software company said it was leveraging AI to improve customer outcomes and transitioning its platform from retail operations to broader business intelligence.
Mercury Energy, up 1c to $6.83, announced it was closing its Now telco and broadband unit within nine months, with the loss of about 70 jobs in Hawke’s Bay, Christchurch, Tauranga and Hamilton. Now has 3,000 businesses and 15,000 residential customers who will transition to Mercury’s main brand.
KMD Brands has dramatically reduced the number of shares on issue with its 25-for-1 consolidation, and its share price, down 1c, was translated to $1.84. Vital Healthcare Property Trust, unchanged at $1.92, has told the market it is beginning stage two of the Macarthur Health Precinct in Campbelltown, New South Wales, which will deliver a short-stay surgical hospital and a medical outpatient building.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 2 points higher at 8744.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's share market has had a dour start to the new financial year, dropping for the seventh time out of its past 10 sessions after a sell-off in banking and supermarket stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Wednesday finished 55.8 points lower at 8,722.9, a drop of 0.64 per cent, while the broader All Ordinaries fell 54.8 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 8,931.4.
The ASX200 ended the day at its lowest level in 20 days and up less than 0.1 per cent since the start of 2026.
All the major banks fell sharply, pulling the financial sector down 1.7 per cent.
ANZ lost 2.5 per cent to $34.47 in its worst daily performance since May 1, while the other three big retail banks were close behind.
CBA fell 2.4 per cent to $160.73, NAB retreated 2.3 per cent to $36.99 and Westpac subtracted 1.5 per cent to $34.70.
In the consumer staples sector, Coles suffered its worst drop since the war with Iran began on February 27, falling 4.2 per cent to $23.35 as the supermarket giant said it was considering the potential purchase of Petbarn owner Greencross from private equity firm TPG.
The drop likely shows investors were worried the potential acquisition would be a distraction from chief executive chief executive Leah Weckert's successful simplification strategy, analysts said.
Woolworths fell 1.8 per cent to $39.31 while the consumer staples sector as a whole dropped 2.1 per cent.
A total of seven of the ASX's 11 sectors were lower, while energy, materials, health care and utilities finished higher.
The sector split was a fitting reminder of the key lesson from the financial year that just finished, said Betashares investment strategist Tom Wickenden.
That lesson was Australian equities remained highly dependent on narrow pockets of leadership while investors searched for the next source of broad earnings growth, he said.
The biggest loser in the ASX300 was Objective Corp, which crashed 34.5 per cent to a six-year low of $6.75 after the public sector software company lost a longstanding software contract on short notice.
Objective Corp chief executive Tony Walls said the company he founded was "deeply disappointed" with the Australian defence department's decision, which came after months of negotiations.
On the flip side, Perpetual rose 15.5 per cent to a six-month high of $17.90 before the wealth manager's shares were placed in a trading halt pending an announcement about a potential takeover offer.
In the heavyweight mining sector, South32 rose 9.7 per cent to a two-week high of $4.28 after the company said it would sell its aluminium businesses to Alcoa for up to $US5.6 billion ($8 billion).??
The assets include South32's majority stake in the bauxite mining and alumina refining operation in Western Australia known as Worsley Alumina, as well as operations in South Africa and Brazil.
The transaction will reposition South32 as a base metals company focused on copper, zinc, silver and lead.
Elsewhere in the sector, BHP rose 0.9 per cent to $59.92, Fortescue climbed 0.5 per cent to $19.24 and Rio Tinto dropped 1.0 per cent to $170.81.
The Australian dollar was trading for 68.90 US cents, from 68.77 US cents at 5pm on Tuesday.
ON THE ASX:
??The S&P/ASX200 on Wednesday fell 55.8 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 8,722.9
The broader All Ordinaries lost 54.8 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 8,931,4
The NZX 50 Lost -9.08 points (-0.07%) to 13601.42
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended mixed. The DJIA was unchanged at 52,305.24, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 7,483.23 and the Nasdaq fell 0.7% to 26,040.03.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were AppLovin Corp APP surging 9.58%, Coinbase Global Inc COIN jumped 8.93%, and Meta Platforms Inc META lifted 8.81%.
The biggest decliners were Corning Inc GLW which dropped 13.59%, KLA Corp KLAC fell 11.77%, and Teradyne Inc TER lost 11.68%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4% to 4,112.45 and the Shenzhen Composite Index added 0.4% to 2,851.81.
Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index declined 0.6% to 22,881.02.
Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average climbed 0.6% to 70,474.96.
India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX rose 0.6% to 76,922.64.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished lower. The FTSE 100 Index declined 0.2% to 10,478.34. In Europe, shares closed mixed. The Germany's DAX climbed 0.2% to 25,040.28, and the France's CAC 40 slipped 0.8% to 8,337.29
