Market Announcements
Market Summary
A third earnings downgrade for influential Fisher and Paykel Healthcare sent the New Zealand sharemarket falling nearly 0.5% at the end of the week. The S&P/NZX 50 Index reached an intraday high of 13,068.03 at midday Friday but tumbled in the afternoon, closing at 12,965.01, down 60.06 points or 0.46%. The index fell 1.6% for the week and is down nearly 4.4% year-to-date. There were 79 gainers and 59 decliners on the main board with 45.2 million shares worth $150.4m changing hands.
Market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare declined $1.30 or 3.81% to a one-year low of $32.85 on trade worth $21.87m after UBS NZ cut its earnings per share for the 2027 financial year by 6%.
Cancer diagnostics company Pacific Edge surged 9.5c or 54.29% to 27c after learning that a draft local coverage determination for its Cxbladder testing has been published to the US Medicare database, with explicit coding guidance. Pacific Edge said there is a 45-day notice-and-comment period, and within 12 months, Medicare consultant Novitas must publish the final determination or withdraw the draft.
The BNZ-Business NZ Performance of Manufacturing Index was 50.5 in April, down from 52.8 in March and 54.6 in February.
Other stocks Fletcher Building rose 14c or 4.84% to $3.03 after selling its Iplex South Australian property to an investor for A$20.05m (NZ$24.5m) – a gain of A$10m ($12.2m). Iplex will lease the site for up to 12 months after the sale is completed next month. Summerset was down 21c or 2.84% to $7.19; Serko decreased 7c or 4.61% to $1.45; Port of Tauranga shed 14c to $8.28; and Synlait Milk declined 2c or 4.17% to 46c. Gentrack, which reports on Monday, improved 18c or 4.59% to $4.10; Freightways was up 26c or 2.01% to $13.20; and Briscoe Group increased 10c or 2.08% to $4.90. Property for Industry gained 6c or 2.51% to $2.45, and Investore was up 3.5c or 3.38% to $1.07.
Meridian Energy, down 6c to $5.85, has received consent to build a second 120MW solar farm at Bunnythorpe near Palmerston North. The 250,000 solar panels will produce up to 225GWh of electricity a year – enough to power some 30,000 homes. Meridian said national electricity demand in April was 3.7% higher than the same month last year, and retail sales volumes increased 8.2%, with residential 25% higher. In the month to May 11, national hydro storage increased from 106% to 119% of the historical average, with South Island storage at 109% and North Island 201%.
The Warehouse Group, down 1c to 61.5c, reported a decrease of 1.4% to $700.8m in sales for the 13 weeks ending May 3, and sales for the previous 39 weeks were up 0.7% to $2.3b. The Warehouse stores' sales were down 2.5% to $405.3m for the third quarter compared with the same period last year; Warehouse Stationery declined 2.9% to $57.1m; and Noel Leeming's sales were up 0.7% to $236.6m.
Auckland International Airport, down 1c to $8.38, recorded 1.555 million passengers in April, comprising 845,978 international and 709,610 domestic – all were up 1% on the same month last year. The airport company said flights from Auckland to the Middle East continued to be affected by the conflict, with passenger numbers and seat capacity on the Middle Eastern routes down by 80% and 74%, respectively, in April.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 2 points higher at 8635.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's share market has fallen for four of the past five weeks following a storm of profit warnings, earnings disappointments, interest rate hikes and fuel security woes.
The S&P/ASX200 fell 9.9 points on Friday, down 0.11 per cent to 8,630.8, as the broader All Ordinaries dipped 14.1 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 8,870.6.
The exchange's recent direction has diverged from most of its global counterparts, particularly Wall Street's S&P500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq indices, which have been resetting record highs every week since mid-April.
CommBank shares rebounded for a second session after Wednesday's disappointing trading update sparked an almost $30 billion sell-off of Australia's biggest bank.??
"By itself, (the update) didn't warrant that 10 per cent sell-off, but when you put it against the backdrop of everything which we've seen over the past six to eight weeks, it certainly was the straw which broke the camel's back," IG market analyst Tony Sycamore told AAP.
"We've seen profit warnings, earnings downgrades, the impact of the RBA rate hiking cycle coming through, fuel security concerns, and then Tuesday night's federal budget, which has unveiled a number of very investor-unfriendly tax changes."
The heavyweight financials sector has fallen by more than 10 per cent from hitting a record high in April.
The energy sector advanced 2.2 per cent despite crude prices easing during the session as oil, gas and coal producers improved but uranium stocks continued to slide.
The basic materials gave away more than half the week's gains as investors took profits on BHP and Rio Tinto after the mega miners smashed multiple record peaks since Tuesday.
Gold miners were under sustained pressure as expectations of US interest rate hikes weighed on the precious metal, which fell to $US4,575 ($A6,388) an ounce, dragging on ASX-listed producers.
Battery minerals and rare earths producers also sold off.
Consumer-facing stocks rebounded after selling off on Thursday, but only discretionary stocks ended the week higher, up 0.8 per cent, while staples tumbled 2.5 per cent since Monday.
Coles had a particularly rough week, its shares falling almost 3.4 per cent after the Federal Court ruled the grocery giant's "Down Down" marketing campaign misled consumers.
In company news, Penfolds owner Treasury Wine Estates jumped almost two per cent after French billionaire Olivier Goudet spent $31 million upping his stake in the winemaker to almost a tenth.
Mineral Resources shares slumped more than seven per cent after managing director Chris Ellison unloaded $112.5 million in stock in an on-market sale.
The Australian dollar is buying 71.59 US cents, down from 72.61 US cents on Thursday at 5pm, after better-than-expected US economic data raised the odds of future Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.
ON THE ASX:
The S&P/ASX200 dipped by 9.9 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 8,630.8
The broader All Ordinaries lost 14.1 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 8,870.6
The NZX 50 Lost -75.20 points (-0.58%) to 12889.81
Companies commencing Ex-Dividend Trading Today (ASX 300):
Alcoa Corporation
Macquarie Group Limited
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended lower. The DJIA declined 1.1% to 49,526.17, the S&P 500 fell 1.2% to 7,408.50 and the Nasdaq slipped 1.5% to 26,225.14.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were DexCom Inc DXCM surging 6.55%, FactSet Research Systems Inc FDS jumped 6.32%, and Workday Inc WDAY lifted 5.34%.
The biggest decliners were Corning Inc GLW which dropped 7.91%, Coinbase Global Inc COIN fell 7.82%, and Ford Motor Co F lost 7.46%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 1% to 4,135.39 and the Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 0.9% to 2,861.46.
Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index declined 1.6% to 25,962.73.
Japanese shares ended lower. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 2% to 61,409.29.
India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX declined 0.2% to 75,237.99.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished lower. The FTSE 100 Index fell 1.7% to 10,195.37. In Europe, shares closed lower. The Germany's DAX slipped 2.1% to 23,950.57, and the France's CAC 40 dropped 1.6% to 7,952.55
