Market Announcements
Market Summary
Another handy gain sent the New Zealand sharemarket into positive territory for the first time in four months, after it had shaken off the fuel price shock and the Iran war.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index traded strongly in the afternoon and closed at 13,618.42, up 36.23 points or 0.27% after reaching a morning low of 13,565.09.
The index gained 0.9% for the week and is now ahead nearly 0.6% for the year to date after sliding in early March when the Middle East conflict broke out.
There was an even spread of 66 gainers and decliners on the main board, and volumes were again lower with 23.7 million shares worth $89.5m changing hands.
'Inflation expectations'
The local market had quite a solid day.
The consumer confidence index in June was up but is still below the pre-war level. However, consumer and business confidence is grinding back up, and inflation expectations for next year have fallen from 5.3% to 4.6%.
There has been a global rally in healthcare stocks, and this has flowed through to Australia and NZ, with Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (up 67c to $39.71) and Ebos Group (up 48c, or 2.34%, to $ 20.98) benefiting.
In the US, the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.8% to 25,832.67 points following further weakness in semiconductor stocks.
The S&P 500 was steady at 7,483.24 points, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average rushed to a new high after gaining 594 points, or 1.14%, to 52,900.07 as the rotation out of technology and into financials, industrials, and select consumer stocks continued.
The Dow Jones was boosted by a softer-than-expected jobs report with nonfarm payrolls rising by 57,000 in June, well below the market estimate of 113,000 and May’s gain of 172,000. Private payrolls increased by 49,000, slower than the 97,000 recorded in May.
The payrolls reinforced signs of a cooling labour market and eased fears of an immediate interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
The US unemployment rate dropped to 4.2%, below economists' forecast of 4.3%.
Local stocks
Back home, the ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence lifted 4 points in June to 91.3, back to its March level.
The index is still 16 points lower than its January peak.
The net proportion of households thinking it’s a good time to buy a major household item (the best retail indicator) rose another 9 points to minus 11.
Perceptions regarding the economic outlook over the next 12 months increased from minus 36% to minus 23%, its strongest reading since February ANZ said another bounce in consumer confidence should surprise no one, given the role higher fuel prices had in driving the slump in March. Confidence has now regained almost half its fall.
Mainfreight gained $1.05 to $63.68; Fletcher Building added 8c or 2.42% to $3.38; Summerset was up 15c to $8.90; and a2 Milk increased 24c or 2.71% to $9.10 in advance of next week’s special dividend payment at 41.36c a share.
There have been short-sellers of a2 Milk in the market, and they are having to buy the shares back at a higher price.
The Warehouse continued its revival by gaining 4c or 7.41% to 58c; digital software firm Blackpearl Group rose 8c or 15.38% to 60c; takeover target Bremworth was up 6c or 7.23% to 89c; and Santana Minerals increased 3c or 5.31% to 59.5c.
Tourism Holdings, up 2c or 0.68% to $2.94, has granted due diligence to the consortium of BGH Capital and the family interest of Luke and Karl Trouchet. The consortium has made a takeover offer at $3.10 a share.
There is another takeover bid for Tourism Holdings from an unnamed party at $3.30- $3.40 per share.
Freightways was down 2c to $13.88 following the announcement that Mark Cairns has resigned as a director and chair. The company said it has strong internal candidates and Cairns will stay on until a successor is named.
Meridian Energy, down 7c to $5.65, told the market it has received backing from the Fast-track panel to ease access restrictions on Lake Pūkaki hydro storage for a three-year period, thereby reducing dry-year risk and related price impacts.
Amongst the decliners, Ventia Services fell 64c or 7.89% to $7.47; Vulcan Steel decreased 33c or 5.25% to $5.95; KMD shed 8c or 4.35% to $1.76; SkyCity was down 2.5c of 4.24% to 56.5c; Gentrack slipped 13c or 3.29% to $3.82; and ikeGPS lost 5.5c or 4.35% to $1.21.
Source: BusinessDesk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 18 points lower at 8841.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: The Australian share market has managed to avoid a third straight day of losses thanks to a bounce from the banking sector.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Thursday finished up 1.6 points, or 0.02 per cent, at 8,724.5, while the broader All Ordinaries lost half a point to finish at 8,930.9.
IG analyst Tony Sycamore said 4the ASX200 had dropped 66 points at the open to a three-week low of 8656.20.
Then fresh buying, likely for the start of the new financial year, entered the market and helped it claw back all of its early losses, Mr Sycamore said.
Despite the flat finish just two of the ASX's 11 sectors finished in the green - health care and financials.
The latter rose 1.2 per cent following a rough session on Wednesday.
All of the big four retail banks rose, NAB the most, climbing 3.8 per cent to $38.41.
Westpac added 2.2 per cent to $35.46, ANZ climbed 0.9 per cent to $34.79 and CBA grew 0.3 per cent to $161.14.
In the heavyweight mining sector, goldminers rose as the precious metal rebounded to $US4,077 an ounce following a dip below $4,000 earlier in the week.
Evolution climbed 1.9 per cent, Northern Star grew 5.5 per cent and Newmont added 2.6 per cent.
Elsewhere in the sector, BHP lost 0.6 per cent to $59.57, Rio Tinto grew 0.3 per cent to $171.27 and Fortescue lost 1.5 per cent to $18.96. ????
The Australian dollar was trading for 68.94 US cents, from 68.90 US cents at 5pm AEST on Wednesday.
ON THE ASX:
??The S&P/ASX200 on Thursday rose 1.6 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 8,724.5
The broader All Ordinaries lost half a point to 8,930.9
The NZX 50 added 37.45 points (0.27%) to 13655.87
Companies commencing Ex-Dividend Trading Today (ASX 300):
Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended mixed. The DJIA added 1.1% to 52,900.07, the S&P 500 was unchanged at 7,483.24 and the Nasdaq fell 0.8% to 25,832.67.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Genuine Parts Co GPC surging 12.92%, Moderna Inc MRNA jumped 10.01%, and Honeywell Aerospace Inc HONA lifted 8.74%.
The biggest decliners were SanDisk Corp SNDK which dropped 14.13%, Teradyne Inc TER fell 13.63%, and KLA Corp KLAC lost 11.51%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4% to 4,043.64 and the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 0.8% to 2,792.58.
Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 1.3% to 23,350.03.
Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average gained 1.5% to 69,744.07.
India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX climbed 0.3% to 77,763.91.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index rose 0.2% to 10,679.03. In Europe, shares closed higher. The Germany's DAX climbed 0.8% to 25,779.31, and the France's CAC 40 lifted 0.4% to 8,508.07
