NZ Sharemarket Closes Lower As Tech Stocks Buoyed By Oracle Update

The New Zealand sharemarket was down on Thursday despite data centre owner Infratil being buoyed by the sharp share price rise by United States tech giant Oracle. The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed down 0.35% or 47.09 points, falling to 13,229.15, after 33.4 million shares worth $118.5m were traded. The S&P/NZX 20 index closed at 7,654.47 points, down 0.37%, while the S&P/NZX 10 index ended the day at 12,779.57, falling 0.36%. There were 54 gainers on the main board and 73 decliners.

Infratil continued its positive momentum after the news in the US of Oracle’s projected cloud revenue, growing the importance of data centre infrastructure. Oracle’s share price has surged more than 36% after its update, forecasting US$18 billion (NZ$30.3b) in FY2026, with cloud revenue rising to US$144b in five years. Infratil’s share price rose 15c or 1.20% to $12.60 after 703,029 shares changed hands on turnover worth $8.8m.

In other positive news, minor stock Scott Technology saw its share price rally 15.38% to $2.25 after it outlined plans to double its revenue by 2030 to $530m. Elsewhere, Spark released its new five-year business strategy, refocusing the business on its core of connectivity from a broader digital services ambition. The business also gave an update on the succession of chair Justine Smyth, confirming she will stand for re-election at the annual meeting in November, with the intention to serve for up to 12 months. Spark’s share price fell 2.40% to $2.44 after 1.6m shares changed hands on turnover worth $4m.

Meanwhile, the share price of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, the market’s largest company, fell 23c or 0.60% to $38.20 after 435,453 shares changed hands on turnover worth $16.6m. Contact Energy shares also fell, dropping 14c to $9.21 on turnover worth $9.6m.

The S&P 500 finished at a new record on Wednesday (US time) behind a huge rally in Oracle shares as major US indices diverged ahead of key consumer inflation data. Shares in Oracle surged more than 36% after the software giant projected huge revenue growth in the next few years as it prospers from the artificial intelligence (AI) investment boom. Those gains helped lift the S&P 500 by 0.3% to 6,532.05, a second straight record.

US equities have been on a tear in recent sessions as markets anticipate a likely Federal Reserve interest rate cut next week amid signs of a weakening US employment market. Those expectations were reinforced by a surprise 0.1% decline in the producer price index in August, according to government data.

Source: Business Desk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 43 points higher at 8850.

- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Banks, health care and discretionary spending stocks have led Australia's share market lower, as continues to retreat from its record peak.

The S&P/ASX fell 25.4 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 8,805 on Thursday, as the broader All Ordinaries sank 23.8 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 9,107.4.

The top-200 has slipped roughly 250 points, or 2.8 per cent, from its all-time intraday peak of 9,054.5, reached on August 25.

Ahead of a massive week for local data and central bank decisions, the Australian market appeared to be in a holding pattern, IG Markets analyst Tony Sycamore said.

"We've got three central bank meetings next week: the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England and the Fed meeting and, of course, jobs data here in Australia next Thursday," he told AAP.

"So really, this week has gone broadly as expected."

Six of 11 local sectors finished the day higher, but a 0.9 per cent slip in the heavyweight financials sector and a two per cent tumble in health care stocks dragged on the broader market.

All big four banks traded lower, as Bendigo Bank joined ANZ and NAB to announce job cuts and restructures, prompting investors to weigh narratives of clever cost-cutting against concerns of broader economic weakness.

Blood plasma giant CSL sunk 2.4 per cent to six-year lows of $205.81, a nasty contagion leading health care sector losses of 1.8 per cent.

The energy segment snapped a four-day losing streak to lift 0.7 per cent, after Russian drones breached Polish airspace and Israel targeted Hamas leaders in Qatar earlier in the week, buoying oil prices.

Woodside and Santos each rose more than 1.2 per cent, as Santos signed a non-binding gas supply deal with Orica.

The raw materials sector posted its first positive day in a week, up 0.6 per cent as gold miners Northern Star (+3.5 per cent) and Evolution Mining (+6.2 per cent) shot higher.

Gold is trading hands at $US3,633 ($A5,500) an ounce, hodling strength roughly one per cent short of its recent record peak of $US3,674.

Large cap miners BHP and Rio Tinto were less impressive, fading 0.5 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively as iron ore futures dipped below $US105 a tonne during the session.

Investors will be watching key US inflation data is due overnight, after US producer price growth came in softer-than-expected in August, compounding hopes of interest rate cuts next week.

The likelihood of US rate cuts has supported the Australian dollar, which is buying 66.12 US cents after it hit 10-month highs above 66.35 US cents overnight.

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 fell 25.4 points on Thursday, or 0.29 per cent, to 8,805

The broader All Ordinaries slipped 23.8 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 9,071.4

The NZX 50 added 53.73 points (0.40%) to 13282.88

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

CAR Group Limited

Cleanaway Waste Management Limited

G8 Education Limited

Wisetech Global Limited

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:

U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA rose 1.4% to 46,108.00, the S&P 500 added 0.8% to 6,587.47 and the Nasdaq gained 0.7% to 22,043.08.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Warner Bros. Discovery Inc WBD surging 28.79%, Paramount Skydance Corp PSKY jumped 15.55%, and Synopsys Inc SNPS lifted 12.98%.

The biggest decliners were Oracle Corp ORCL which dropped 6.23%, Netflix Inc NFLX fell 3.54%, and Boeing Co BA lost 3.31%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.7% to 3,875.31 and the Shenzhen Composite Index climbed 2.5% to 2,468.66.

Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 0.4% to 26,086.32.

Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average added 1.2% to 44,372.50.

India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX gained 0.2% to 81,548.73.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index climbed 0.8% to 9,297.58. In Europe, shares closed higher. The Germany's DAX rose 0.3% to 23,703.65, and the France's CAC 40 climbed 0.8% to 7,823.52