NZ Market Rises On Mixed News

The New Zealand sharemarket opened the week with a rollercoaster ride as optimism for a Middle East peace deal turned into uncertainty, again.  The S&P/NZX 50 Index traded steadily in the morning, reaching 12,995.56, but drifted in the afternoon only to have a late rise - finishing with a close of 12,915.45, up 9.78 points or 0.08%.  There were 75 gainers and 62 decliners on the main board with 36.59 million shares worth $144.33m changing hands. Market leader Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 25c to $37.78 on trade worth $26.86m.

Jeremy Sullivan, investment adviser with Hamilton Hindin Greene, said markets had mixed news over the weekend with the opening and then closing of the Hormuz Strait, and getting a sore neck keeping up with the price of oil. “Further talks are going on in Pakistan but it seems to be one step forward and one step backwards,” he said.

Brent Crude oil had fallen to US$90 a barrel but was back up to $95.38 at 6pm NZ time. Markets had already priced in a peace agreement between the US and Iran, with the two-week ceasefire due to expire on Wednesday. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 increased nearly 4.5% last week and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 6.6%, both hitting record highs, and Dow Jones Industrial Average was up nearly 3.2%. The US stock futures were pointing to a fall of more than 0.5% overnight.

The local market’s attention will switch to the latest economic data, with the release of the first quarter consumers price index, NZIER quarterly survey of business opinion (QSBO), and the Reserve Bank’s core inflation model. ASB expected a 0.8% increase in consumer prices for the three months ending March, with annual inflation at 2.9%.  But that quarter doesn’t take into account the full impact of the oil crisis and the Reserve Bank has forecast 4.2% inflation at the end of June. The QSBO is expected to show a decline in business confidence, following a strong lift in the final quarter of last year, with a net 39% of firms responding to better general economic conditions ahead.

Infratil increased 25c or 2.07% to $12.30; Gentrack gained 13c or 2.22% to $6.03; Blackpearl Group was up 3.5c or 3.87% to 94c; The Warehouse Group rose 3.5c or 4.73% to 77.5c; Delegat Group collected 13c or 3.23% to $4.15; and ikeGPS improved 5c or 4.81% to $1.09. Fonterra Co-operative decreased 12c or 2.55% to $4.59; Serko declined 7.5c or 4.23% to $1.70; Briscoe shed 9c or 2% to $4.41; and NZ King Salmon Investments fell 2c or 8.33% to 22c. In the property sector, Stride declined 4c or 3.36% to $1.15; Precinct was down 2.5c or 2.44% to $1; and Vital Healthcare Trust decreased 4c or 2.12% to $1.85.

Channel Infrastructure, down 1c to $2.94, has confirmed the contract with the Government to add 93m litres of diesel storage at its Marsden Point fuel terminal by the end of May – representing nine days of New Zealand diesel demand. Channel said the contract is expected to deliver additional revenue of $8m this year but uncertainty in fuel demand remains and it retained the full-year operating earnings (ebitda) guidance of $95m-$100m. Sullivan said the additional storage will be welcomed. Singapore has three main refineries and two of them have reduced throughput by 50% and 40%. Genesis Energy, up 1c to $2.26, is going ahead with the second stage of its battery energy storage system programme at the Huntly Power Station, adding a further 200MWh capacity for a total of 400MWh – enough to power 120,000 homes for two hours. Elsewhere in the energy sector, Meridian was up 11c or 1.99% to $5.65; Contact gained 6c to $9.39; and Mercury was down 10c to $6.45.

Fletcher Building gained 6c or 2.09% to $2.93 after receiving clearance from the NZ Overseas Investment Office and the Commerce Commission for the sale of its construction division to Paris-based Vinci. The sale for at least $315.6m is expected to be completed by the end of June pending counterparty consents and restructuring conditions. Another $18.5m may be paid on the outcome of several potential contracts.

Scales Corp, up 7c to $5.99, told the market that the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority is investigating the operations of Esro Food Group, its joint venture partner in Esro Pet Food. Scales said Esro Pet Food is not subject to the investigation and is a separate legal entity selling only to the pet food market.

TradeWindow, down 0.002c to 19.3c, told the market its founder, AJ Smith, has resigned because of illness. Chief operating officer Dewald van Rensburg will take over in an interim role.

Source: Business Desk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 25 points higher at 8969.

Monday 20th April 2026 - close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's share market has ended the session slightly higher despite an escalation of tensions in the Persian Gulf boosting oil prices and dragging on risk sentiment.

The S&P/ASX200 edged 6.4 points higher on Monday, up 0.07 per cent, to 8,953.3, as the broader All Ordinaries rose 5.4 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 9,174.1.

The modest uptick came despite discouraging news from southwest Asia and signs of deadlock between the US and Iran, as each escalated their respective blockades of the Strait of Hormuz.

"Things in the Middle East don't look particularly flash if you take what's happening at the surface level on face value, but I think there's a lot of headline fatigue also," IG market analyst Tony Sycamore told AAP.

"We're just going to muddle through until we get to the point where something breaks, in terms of the data or the stalemate is broken, and I'm not sure what breaks first."

Energy stocks weighed heavily, dropping three per cent in a broad sector sell-off despite conflict concerns putting upward pressure on oil prices.

Woodside and Santos, along with coal and uranium producers, sold off.

Viva Energy tumbled nine per cent after coming out of a trading halt following a fire at its Geelong refinery.

The facility would be back up to 90 per cent of regular production capacity for jet fuel, diesel and petrol within a few weeks, the company said.

NAB and Worley trimmed their earnings outlooks due to Persian Gulf conflict impacts on fuel and transport costs, dragging their share prices more than three and five per cent lower respectively.

Logistics provider Qube flagged an up-to $30 million earnings hit for the 2025/26 financial year, but its share price was unscathed to end the session flat.

Consumer-facing sectors outperformed the market, with discretionaries and staples up more than 1.4 per cent each, thanks in part to rebounds in segment giants Wesfarmers, Woolworths and Coles.

The heavyweight financials sector crept 0.1 per cent lower, as NAB's tumble counterbalanced decent gains from CommBank and Westpac, which each improved by more than 0.7 per cent.

The raw materials sector traded roughly flat as mega miners BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue posted modest share price drops.

Gold producers were broadly higher, despite the precious metal easing to $US4,790 an ounce during the session.

In company news, Monash IVF shares dropped 5.9 per cent after it knocked back a takeover offer from a consortium including Genesis Capital Investment Management and Washington H Soul Pattinson Holdings.

Bourse operator ASX slipped 0.5 per cent to $58.77 as the first release of its updated clearance system went live.

Zip Co was the best performer of the top-200, rallying for a second session after Friday's guidance upgrade and strong transaction growth in the US.

The Australian dollar is buying 71.56 US cents, down from 71.63 US cents on Friday after briefly spiking above 72 US cents at the weekend for the first time in almost four years.

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 rose 6.4 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 8,953.3.

The broader All Ordinaries gained 5.4 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 9,174.1.

The NZX 50 added 70.27 points (0.54%) to 12,975.94 while the Nikkei dropped -1042.44 points (-1.78%) at the time of writing, to be closed at 58,475.90

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

Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Limited

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]: U.S. stocks ended mixed. The DJIA was unchanged at 49,442.56, the S&P 500 slipped 0.2% to 7,109.14, and the Nasdaq dropped 0.3% to 24,404.39.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were The Trade Desk Inc TTD surging 7.02%, Stanley Black & Decker Inc SWK jumped 5.27%, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co HPE lifted 5.22%.

The biggest decliners were NRG Energy Inc NRG which dropped 6.33%, Boston Scientific Corp BSX fell 5.05%, and Intel Corp INTC lost 4.07%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.8% to 4,082.13, and the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 0.7% to 2,762.28.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 0.8% to 26,361.07.

Japanese shares closed higher. The Nikkei Stock Average lifted 0.6% to 58,824.89.

India shares ended flat. The BSE SENSEX was unchanged at 78,520.3.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished lower. The FTSE 100 Index fell 0.5% to 1,0609.08.

In Europe, shares closed lower. Germany's DAX fell 1.2% to 24,417.8, and France's CAC 40 declined 1.1% to 8,331.05.