NZ Sharemarket Flat Despite Offshore Market Highs

Offshore sharemarkets raced to record highs even as oil prices stayed high and a Middle East resolution remained uncertain, while New Zealand had a flat day.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index suddenly peaked at lunchtime, reaching an intraday high of 13,162.28, but languished in the afternoon and closed at 13,066.06, down 10.52 points or 0.08%.

There were 77 gainers and 58 decliners on the main board, with volumes reaching 53.7 million shares worth $171.9m.

'It’s déjà vu'

There was still optimism about some sort of deal amid the Middle East conflict.

Markets have previously hit new highs despite the Middle East headlines, and the latest US earnings season has started well.

Markets have been quite resilient, and for them, it’s déjà vu. They saw the friction, threats, deadlines and agreements with the US trade tariffs last year. They have become used to shocks over the last few years.

A White House official has said a second round of negotiations between the US and Iran is under discussion.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500, rising on 10 of the past 11 trading days, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, with 11 consecutive gains, both hit record highs.

The S&P 500 broke through 7,000 points with a gain of 0.8% to 7,022.95; the Nasdaq increased 1.59% to 24,016.02; and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.15% to 48,463.72.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Index was trading at a record level, having gained 2.51% to 59,595.14 points at 6pm NZ time.

The Taiwanese Taiex, home of chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, was up 0.68% to 36,971.67. It became the world’s seventh-largest equity market with a total market capitalisation of US$4.14 trillion (NZ$7t), overtaking Britain, valued at US$4.09t.

If a Middle East agreement was reached and oil price volatility subsided (Brent Crude was down slightly at US$94.97 a barrel), an expected Official Cash Rate hike by the Reserve Bank in July might fade away.

It could all swing around quickly, and you could be looking at a scenario of no rate hikes this year. That would be good for the fragile economic recovery.

ANZ is predicting “a modest” 2% fall in house prices this year. The REINZ House Price Index was up 0.3% in March, little changed from a year ago, and sales volumes fell 3.3%.

“Overall, momentum in sales appears to have flattened,” ANZ said. “Today’s [Thursday] data suggest the housing market was carrying a smidgen more momentum heading into the oil price shock.

“However, with mortgage rates and broader economic uncertainty rising, and inventories still elevated, we continue to expect some softening over the months ahead.”

Local stocks

Chorus increased 27c or 2.86% to $9.70; Infratil gained 16c to $12.18; and Genesis Energy was up 6c or 2.69% to 2.29.

Blackpearl Group added 4c or 5.06% to 83c; Eroad rose 3c or 3.19% to 97c; and Radius Residential Care improved 2.5c or 6.49% to 41c.

Fonterra Co-operative, up 21c or 4.51% to $4.87, and Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund, rising 45.5c or 7.01% to $6.94, continued their impressive run since the $3.2 billion capital return to farmer/shareholders.

Ebos Group decreased 55c or 2.41% to $22.30; a2 Milk continued to slide, down 17c or 1.81% to $9.23; Gentrack declined 22c or 3.51% to $6.05; and Ryman Healthcare shed 6c or 2.8% to $2.08.

Westpac declined 98c or 1.98% to $48.59; Seeka fell 15c or 2.91% to $5; and Kiwi Property was down 3c or 3.23% to 90c.

Contact, unchanged at $9.49, reported mass market electricity and gas sales of 359GWh in March, up from 282GWh for the same month last year. On April 14, South Island controlled hydro storage was 99% of the mean and North Island 182%.

Fletcher Building, down 2c to $2.96, told the market that sales volumes for the March quarter continued to show early signs of improvement.

The Light Building Products division benefited from improved renovation activity in NZ and a broad-based uplift in Australia. Heavy Building Materials remains subdued overall, and Distribution, particularly frame & truss, continued to show steady improvement.

Fletcher said trading conditions remained competitive, with ongoing margin pressure continuing across business units and most notably in the Distribution division, Firth and the Steel business units.

Cooks Coffee was up 0.005c or 2% to 25.5c after telling the market that its Esquires Brand, with 25 stores in Ireland, has won the best Franchisor of the Year for food and beverage at the Irish Franchise Association awards.

TruScreen, unchanged at 1.7c, has submitted three proposals, developed in partnership with global and regional health organisations, for AI-enabled cervical screening programmes in 14 countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

Source: BusinessDesk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 10 points Lower at 8944.

Thursday 16th April 2026 - close [Morningstar with AAP]: Weak performances from major banks, gold stocks and mega miners have dragged the bourse lower despite hopes of de-escalation in the Middle East boosting the Australian dollar to four-year highs.

The S&P/ASX200 fell 23.7 points on Thursday, down 0.26 per cent, to 8,955 as the broader All Ordinaries lost 7.5 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 9,173.6.

The top 200 was unable to hold above 9000 points for a third straight session despite global equities rallying on hopes the US and Iran are keen to resolve their conflict and ease its resulting energy shock.

Multiple Wall Street indices hit fresh records overnight, and benchmark indices in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong were up between 1.5 per cent and two per cent at the time of writing, but a rotation out of Australia's blue-chip banks and miners held its exchange back.

"They're top-ranked banks in terms of credit exposures, they pay strong dividend yields, they have tax benefits and they're exposed to a domestic audience that's largely insulated from the globe, so seen as a great defensive asset but now that dynamic's reversing," Moomoo market strategist Michael McCarthy told AAP.

"The market has taken the view that we're just about done in the Middle East and everything's improving, so those defensive assets that they bought during that period are now being sold."

The heavyweight financials sector tumbled 1.3 per cent as NAB and CommBank fell more than 2.5 per cent each, carving out spots in the ASX200's top-10 worst performances for the day.

Raw materials slipped 0.4 per cent with a sluggish lead from BHP and Rio Tinto, but gold miners really dragged on the segment as the All Ordinaries gold sub-industry slipped 1.8 per cent.

The slump came despite the precious metal improving to $US4,818 ($A6,710) an ounce during the session.

Oil prices and ASX-listed energy stocks continued to cool off from their Persian Gulf conflict rallies, with most fossil fuel producers selling off.

Uranium stocks bucked the trend, with Paladin, Deep Yellow and Silex each up two per cent or more.

Viva Energy went into a trading halt after a fire at its Geelong fuel refinery, which intensified existing concerns about national fuel supply.

Virgin Australia is up more than 12 per cent in two sessions as investors bet on an easing of disruptions to Middle East airspace and a more modest outlook for jet fuel prices.

Qantas, which doesn't fly direct services to the region, has gained 1.7 per cent in the same period.

ASX-listed tech stocks continued their rebound, up more than seven per cent on Thursday, making it a 13.6 per cent charge in three sessions for the beaten-down segment.

Consumer discretionary stocks also benefited from a broader lift in sentiment, up 0.8 per cent despite a lumbering performance by Bunnings' owner Wesfarmers, tracking with the broader blue chip sell-off.

The brighter global growth outlook and a fading greenback helped send the Australian dollar to a four-year high of 71.98 US cents, before easing to 71.88 US cents, up from 71.38 US cents at 5pm on Wednesday.

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 fell 23.7 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 8,955.

The broader All Ordinaries lost 7.5 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 9,173.6.

The NZX 50 Lost -10.52 points (-0.08%) to 13,066.06 while the Nikkei gained 1384.10 points (2.33%) at the time of writing, to be closed at 59,518.34

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]: U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA lifted 0.2% to 48,578.72, the S&P 500 increased 0.3% to 7,041.28, and the Nasdaq gained 0.4% to 24,102.7.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Albemarle Corp ALB surging 16.31%, ON Semiconductor Corp ON jumped 10.37%, and Dell Technologies Inc DELL lifted 8.92%.

The biggest decliners were Charles Schwab Corp SCHW which dropped 7.63%, Abbott Laboratories ABT fell 6.01%, and Royal Caribbean Group RCL lost 5.80%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.7% to 4,055.55, and the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 1.8% to 2,733.57.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 1.7% to 26,394.26.

Japanese shares closed higher. The Nikkei Stock Average lifted 2.4% to 59,518.34.

India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX slipped 0.2% to 77,988.68.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index gained 0.3% to 1,0589.99.

In Europe, shares closed mixed. Germany's DAX rose 0.4% to 24,154.47, and France's CAC 40 declined 0.1% to 8,262.7.