Market Announcements
Market Summary
The New Zealand sharemarket, like the rest of the Asia-Pacific region, fell nearly 1% amid weakness across the region as the oil price climbed well above US$100 (NZ$169.66) a barrel. The S&P/NZX 50 Index dipped sharply when the offshore markets opened and closed at 12,764.4, down 110.54 points or 0.86%. There were 98 decliners and 52 gainers on the main board, with turnover climbing to 54.6 million shares worth $210.9m.
Market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, down 26c to $35.72, accounted for trade worth $24.24m, and Auckland International Airport, unchanged at $8.22, had trade worth $22.38m. At 6pm NZ time, the Australian S&P/ASX 200 Index had decreased 0.67% to 8,708 points; the Japanese Nikkei 225 had fallen 1.23%, and the Hong Kong Hang Seng had declined 1.05%.
This week five of the Magnificent Seven tech stocks – Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), Amazon and Meta (Facebook) are reporting on Thursday morning (NZ time).
At home, Ebos Group decreased 47c or 2.19% to $20.98; Mainfreight shed $1.35 or 2.26% to $58.50; a2 Milk declined 25c or 2.74% to $8.88; Vector fell 15c or 3.08% to $4.79; and Air NZ was down 1.5c or 3.37% to 43c.
After their recent rebound, retirement village stocks Summerset was down 28c, or 3.33%, to $8.14, and Ryman Healthcare declined 11c, or 4.82%, to $2.17. Goodman NZ was down 3.5c or 1.84% to $1.86; Precinct Properties also eased 3.5c or 3.33% to $1.01; SkyCity decreased 2c or 3.05% to 63.5c; Metro Performance Glass fell 5c 4.55% to $1.05; and Hallenstein Glasson shed 22c or 2.212% to $9.75.
Fletcher Building was up 1c to $2.78 after announcing a conditional agreement for the $15.7m sale of its reinforcing and wire business to Auckland-based United Industries – at a loss of $20m-$23m.
Meal kit company My Food Bag gained 2c, or 8.33%, to 26c after telling the market it is reviewing its ownership and capital structure, given that the company’s recent return to profitable growth has yet to be reflected in the share price. My Food Bag has appointed Cameron Partners as its financial advisor for the review. My Food Bag was the biggest initial public offering since 2014, when it listed in March 2021 at $1.85 a share with a market capitalisation of $449m. That has since fallen to $65.36m.
Other gainers were Gentrack, increasing 17c or 2.93% to $5.97; Third Age Health, up 10c or 2.02% to $5.05; and ikeGPS, rising 6c or 5.31% to $1.19. Advanced manufacturer Rakon, under a takeover offer by California’s Bourns at $1.55 a share, was up 1c to $1.53 after reporting a 24% increase in full-year revenue to $128.8m and returning to profit after two loss-making years. Operating earnings (ebitda) were $20.3m, up 113%, and net profit was $3.1m, a turnaround from a loss of $5.8m in the previous year. Bourns holds 85% of Rakon’s shares and is nearing the 90% target to complete the takeover offer by May 7.
NZ King Salmon Investments, up 0.005c or 2.22% to 23c, has installed two pilot pens and the mooring grid at the Blue Endeavour ocean farm in the Cook Strait. The first fish are expected to be delivered to the farm by the Ronja King wellboat, which has just arrived in the country, by late May/early June.
Truscreen Group, up 0.001c or 6.25% to 1.7c, reported a 29% increase in total revenue to $2.8m, slightly higher than the guidance, for the 2026 financial year ending March. However, the cervical cancer screening company expects a net loss of $2.2m, similar to the previous year, because of additional costs in developing markets.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 27 points lower at 8678.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's share market has notched a sixth-straight session of losses, falling on reports the US will likely reject an Iranian plan to open the Strait of Hormuz.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell 55.7 points on Tuesday, down 0.64 per cent, to 8,710.7, as the broader All Ordinaries slipped 55.8 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 8,935.
The continued slump came as oil prices pushed higher, following reports the US will reject an Iranian proposal to delay nuclear negotiations in order to prioritise the opening to the Hormuz Strait, a choke point for a fifth of global crude supply.
"A pretty ugly day on the Australian exchange, and disappointed given the support we've seen for US shares at the same time," Moomoo market strategist Michael McCarthy told AAP.
"The rest of the world is adding in significant risk premiums for the disruption coming out of the Middle East, both in terms of the slowing of global growth and the inflationary impulse that's going to come with the higher energy prices."
Miners, retailers, utilities, IT and real estate stocks weighed heavily on the bourse as investor sentiment continued to sour.
The energy segment soared 1.2 per cent, one of only two sectors to end the session higher as oil, gas, coal and uranium stocks advanced.
Whitehaven Coal shares surged 3.9 per cent to $8 after targeting the upper end of 2026 earnings guidance as higher realised prices made up for a handful of lacklustre production figures.
Basic materials dragged on the broader market, as BHP dipped 1.3 per cent to $55.43.
Gold miners also pointed lower, as the yellow metal eased to $US4,625 ($A6,448) an ounce, it's lowest price in three weeks.
Battery minerals and rare earths producers bucked the trend, but not enough to lift the sector into the green.
Financials ended the day slightly above break-even, thanks in part to a 0.9 per cent uplift in CommBank shares to $174.61, counterbalancing weakness elsewhere in the sector.
Utilities stocks tumbled 2.3 per cent as Origin lost almost nine per cent of its value in two days after an earnings guidance cut and subsequent analyst downgrade.
Consumer discretionaries also dropped more than two per cent, tracking losses in Wesfarmers, Aristocrat Leisure, and the Lottery Corporation.
In company news, Domino's Pizza shares crumbled by more than a tenth after a similar dive for its US-listed equivalent after a first-quarter earnings miss.
The Australian dollar is buying 71.64 US cents, down slightly from 71.65 US cents on Monday at 5pm.
The 72 US cent-level was a key historical inflection point for the Aussie, Moomoo's Mr McCarthy said.
"It'll be interesting to see how the Aussie dollar performs here," he said.
"Clearly, there's a lot of optimism in the US that the rest of the world doesn't share about the global outlook, and so the Aussie is sort of caught between a rock and a hard place."
March inflation data is due on Wednesday, with markets expecting sticky price growth will prompt the Reserve Bank to hike the cash rate to 4.35 per cent at its meeting next week.
ON THE ASX:
The S&P/ASX200 dropped 55.7 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 8,710.7
The broader All Ordinaries lost 55.8 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 8,935
The NZX 50 added 8.46 points (0.07%) to 12772.86
Companies Holding Annual General Meeting (ASX 300):
G8 Education Limited
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended lower. The DJIA fell 0.1% to 49,141.93, the S&P 500 slipped 0.5% to 7,138.80 and the Nasdaq fell 0.9% to 24,663.80.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Centene Corp CNC surging 13.95%, Franklin Resources Inc BEN jumped 6.86%, and AvalonBay Communities Inc AVB lifted 5.29%.
The biggest decliners were Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc ARE which dropped 11.30%, Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc ZBH fell 10.57%, and Pentair PLC PNR lost 10.20%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.2% to 4,078.64 and the Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 1.1% to 2,727.23.
Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 0.9% to 25,679.78.
Japanese shares ended lower. The Nikkei Stock Average declined 1% to 59,917.46.
India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX slipped 0.5% to 76,886.91.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index rose 0.1% to 10,332.79. In Europe, shares closed lower. The Germany's DAX fell 0.3% to 24,018.26, and the France's CAC 40 slipped 0.5% to 8,104.09
