Market Announcements
Market Summary
Infratil rushed to a new high yesterday on a major datacentre deal and at the same time pushed the New Zealand sharemarket to its fifth gain in six trading days. The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose sharply at the opening after another strong day on Wall Street and stayed that way to close at 13,145.19, up 109.49 points or 0.84%. There were 73 gainers and 61 decliners on the main board with volumes reaching 37.06 million shares worth $170.73 million. Infratil accounted for 2.16 million shares worth $30.9m.
Utilities investor Infratil surged $1.70 or 13.23% to $14.55 after one of its portfolio companies, CDC, announced the largest datacentre deal in Australia's history – a 555MW contract over 30 years with a United States customer. It takes CDC’s contracted capacity to more than one gigawatt, and will be delivered across datacentres under development, becoming operational over 2028 and 2029. The 555MW represents about 40% of operating capacity across all Australian datacentres in 2025. Infratil, which has a stake of 49.72%, said CDC’s operating earnings (ebitdaf) guidance of A$680m-$720m (NZ$828m-$876m) for the 2027 financial year remained the same, but guidance was expected to be more than $1b in 2028. When fully deployed, CDC’s total contracted capacity would deliver annualised ebitdaf of about $2b. Infratil and other shareholders contributed A$500m in February to support the acceleration of CDC’s construction programme, with capital expenditure of $3.8b-$4.2b in full-year 2027. With the share price rise, Infratil overtook Auckland International Airport ($14.26b) as the third-biggest local stock on market capitalisation, at $14.54b.
Other movers Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, down 75c or 2.05% to $35.75, is the biggest with a market cap of $21b and Meridian Energy, up 11c or 1.9% to $5.91, is next on $15.65b.
In the US, the tech stocks led the Nasdaq Composite to a new high. Semiconductor stock Intel had its biggest single-day rise, up 12.92% to US$108.15 (NZ$181.80), with Apple having discussions to use its chipmaking services. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.73% to 49,298.25 points, and S&P 500 increased 0.81% to 7259.22, a new high. S&P 500 companies are expected to post aggregate earnings growth of 28% for the first quarter – double the 14% projection from analysts before the current reporting season started. A lot of the growth is tied to accelerating AI-related spending.
At home, a2 Milk declined a further 19c or 2.33% to $7.95, and Gentrack fell 26c or 6.6% to $3.68 – it has fallen a dramatic 41% in two trading days following its earnings downgrade.
Ebos Group decreased 54c or 2.48% to $21.26; Napier Port was down 10c or 2.7% to $3.61; Property for Industry declined 7c or 2.92% to $2.33; Kiwi Property shed 2c or 2.08% to 94c; and Synlait lost 1.5c or 3.41% to 42.5c. Turners Automotive rose 32c or 3.6% to $9.21; Ryman Healthcare gained 8c or 3.69% to $2.25; Vulcan Steel increased 30c or 4.88% to $6.45; Serko was up 3c or 1.91% to $1.60; Tower added 4c or 1.95% to $2.09; and NZME was up 2c or 1.83% to $1.11.
The dual-listed banking stocks rebounded strongly, with ANZ gaining $1.15 or 2.62% to $45.05, and Westpac adding $2 or 4.4% to $47.50. Channel Infrastructure, up 5c to $3.07, upgraded its full-year operating earnings (ebitda) guidance to $97m-$105m, from $95m-$100m because of additional revenue from the early commissioning of the Z Energy jet storage project and increased diesel storage. Delivery and logistics software firm Locate Technologies, unchanged at 2.8c, announced a three-year services agreement with FedX Australia and then went into a trading halt when NZX regulatory body NZ RegCo wanted to discuss the confidential agreement.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 94 points higher at 8866.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's share market has rebounded on signs the US is seeking a way out of the Persian Gulf conflict with Iran.
The S&P/ASX200 rose 113.1 points on Wednesday, up 1.3 per cent, to 8,793.6, as the broader All Ordinaries gained 112.8 points, or 1.27 per cent, to 9,016.1.
Investors rejoiced after US President Donald Trump paused his plan to escort ships stranded in the Hormuz Strait, claiming the US and Iran were progressing towards a peace deal.
Local blue chip stocks led the push higher, hinting at an institutional rotation of funds into Australia's exchange, which has underperformed many of its global counterparts since the US-Iran conflict began on February 28.
"Looking at the market map today, the big performers are all the index heavyweights, so it looks like broad-based buying of the Australian share market," Moomoo market strategist Michael McCarthy told AAP.
"We've been under pressure, and I think local investors have behaved rationally in that they sought a higher risk premium with lower share prices due to the geopolitical conflict."
Financials and basic materials provided much of the bourse's momentum, the two heavily-weighted sectors each charging more than 2.4 per cent higher.
Industrials also soared, up 1.1 per cent on the back of strong performances from Transurban, Qantas, Virgin, and Stokes family-controlled SGH.
The big four banks locked in gains of 2.8 per cent or more, with Westpac jumping 3.5 per cent to $38.94, scratching out Tuesday's post-earnings sell-off.
After some mixed interim results from ANZ, Westpac and NAB, CommBank will deliver its third quarter report next week.
Iron ore giants BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue helped boost the materials segment, as iron ore futures hit 19-month highs of $US110.50 a tonne.
The All Ordinaries gold sub-sector rose 1.2 per cent, overcoming a shaky start as the precious metal advanced to $US4,665 ($A6,439) an ounce.
The safe haven had been under pressure in March and April, with inflation expectations from the Persian Gold conflict dimming the outlook for US interest rate cuts.
Energy stocks underperformed the market, the sector losing two per cent as falling oil prices prompted some profit-taking on Woodside and Santos.
Investors also hit the sell button on coal miners and uranium stocks.
Defensive segments like consumer staples and communications plays were also under pressure, dropping roughly 0.9 per cent each.
Consumer discretionaries fell despite a decent uptick in Bunnings owner Wesfarmers, as JB Hi-Fi tumbled more than six per cent after its sales update warned of higher supplier costs and stock shortages.
The Australian dollar is trading at nearly four-year highs against the greenback, buying 72.49 US cents and up from 71.57 US cents on Tuesday at 5pm.
ON THE ASX:
The S&P/ASX200 jumped 113.1 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 8,793.6
The broader All Ordinaries fell 112.8 points, or 1.27 per cent, to 9,016.1
The NZX 50 added 83.47 points (0.63%) to 13228.66
Companies Holding Annual General Meeting (ASX 300):
Helia Group Limited
Companies commencing Ex-Dividend Trading Today (ASX 300):
National Australia Bank Limited
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA rose 1.2% to 49,910.59, the S&P 500 gained 1.5% to 7,365.12 and the Nasdaq climbed 2% to 25,838.94.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Super Micro Computer Inc SMCI surging 24.51%, DaVita Inc DVA jumped 23.46%, and Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD lifted 18.64%.
The biggest decliners were CDW Corp CDW which dropped 20.36%, Cencora Inc COR fell 17.38%, and Bio-Techne Corp TECH lost 16.36%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.2% to 4,160.17 and the Shenzhen Composite Index lifted 2.2% to 2,838.55.
Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 1.2% to 26,213.78.
Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.4% to 59,513.12.
India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX rose 1.2% to 77,958.52.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index added 2.1% to 10,438.66. In Europe, shares closed higher. The Germany's DAX gained 2.1% to 24,918.69, and the France's CAC 40 climbed 2.9% to 8,299.42
