NZ Sharemarket Reaches Fourth-Month High

The New Zealand sharemarket reached its highest level in nearly four months yesterday, driven by a rebound on Wall Street and improved local business confidence. The S&P/NZX 50 Index traded strongly throughout the day and closed at 13,621.66, a gain of 76.10 points or 0.56%. The previous best close was 13,656.65 points on March 2, and the index is nearing its all-time high of 13,757.71 set on Jan 14. The index made up a lot of ground over the second quarter, rising nearly 5.6% after slumping 4.7% in the three months ending March. There were 73 gainers and 54 decliners on the main board, with turnover reaching 46.9 million shares worth $249.9m on end-of-quarter portfolio rebalancing.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, down 20c to $39.01, had $40.18m worth of shares change hands, and Auckland International Airport, easing 14c to $8.35, with $50.95m worth of shares traded. The airport company released its Master Plan that outlined development to cater for 38m travellers a year by the late 2040s, up from the present 19m. Jeremy Sullivan, investment adviser with Hamilton Hindin Greene, said it was a positive day on the local market to end the quarter. “It wasn’t just the big names doing the heavy lifting – the rally was quite broad-based. And it was good to see that the business outlook has materially improved.”

Business confidence jumped 27 points in June to plus 37 in the latest ANZ NZ Business Outlook survey. Expected own activity increased 11 points from 25.6 to also sit at plus 37. ANZ said the general theme of this month’s data is more optimism about the future, with both business confidence and expected own activity at historically solid levels. However, the initial oil shock hit to confidence is still working its way through the economy, with the past own activity question drifting lower again this month, ANZ said. “It makes intuitive sense that actual activity would take longer to turn around than confidence and expectations. That said, retail has rebounded, and manufacturing never fell.” Reported past activity fell from 14.8 to 9.0, inflation expectations eased from 3.63% to 3.36%, cost expectations fell from 90 to 85, and pricing intentions dropped 6 points to a net 51% of firms expecting to raise prices, the lowest since November.

Infratil was up 11c to $15.43 on trade worth $22.98m; Freightways gained 31c or 2.28% to $13.91; Mainfreight collected 75c to $62.05; Fletcher Building increased 6c or 1.8% to $3.39; and Scales Corp rose 27c or 4.35% to $6.47. Port of Tauranga hit a new high after increasing 20c or 2.3% to $8.90; a2 Milk gained a further 10c to $9.15; Summerset was up 17c or 1.99% to $8.70; Sky TV added 7c or 2.19% to $3.27; and Ebos Group collected 35c to $20.83. In the energy sector, Mercury increased 23c or 3.45% to $6.90; Meridian gained 8c to $5.82; and Genesis was up 5c or 1.97% to $2.59.

Other gainers were PGG Wrightson up 8c or 3.69% to $2.25; Oceania Healthcare improving 2c or 2.7% to 76c; and Third Age Health adding 10c or 2.27% to $4.50. Vista Group declined 7c or 2.89% to $2.35; and Winton Land was down 5c or 3.45% to $1.40.

Synlait Milk fell 4c, or 10%, to 36c after organising $320m in funding with a new syndicate comprising nine banks, seven of which are from China. The refinancing includes a revolving credit facility for seasonal working capital of $146m, reducing to $86m on March 1 next year and $26m on June 1.

Serko, unchanged at $1.45, told shareholders at the annual meeting that booking volumes for the start of the 2027 financial year were slightly ahead of growth expectations and “we have not seen material impacts from the geopolitical environment on our core markets”. The online travel provider confirmed the full-year income guidance of $128m-$134m, and expects total spend of $132m-$140m.

Air NZ, up 0.005c to 44c, announced a strategy reset that prioritises customers first, targeted growth, and resilience and future fit. The national airline said it was delivering the cost-out programme with $100m of annualised benefits to flow from full-year 2027. Air NZ’s guidance of a $340m-$390m loss before taxation remained unchanged. Investore, up 0.005c to $1.04, confirmed its full-year cash dividend of 6.5c a share at its annual meeting.

Source: Business Desk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 7 points higher at 8816.

- close [Morningstar with AAP]: The local share market has ended the financial year with a whimper, ending on the lows of the day amid sharp losses for goldminers.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed Tuesday down 44.7 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 8,778.7, while the broader All Ordinaries dropped 40.7 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 8,986.2.

The ASX200 finished June up 0.5 per cent, and rose 3.5 per cent for the June quarter, leaving the index up 0.7 per cent year-to-date.??

Traders were closely watching as the Reserve Bank released minutes from its June 16-17 meeting, revealing board members discussed the Middle East conflict and "persistently weak productivity growth" as the two main risks that could have a bearing on future rate decisions.

"The board will remain focused on its mandate to deliver price stability and full employment and will do what it considers necessary to achieve that outcome, including increasing the cash rate target if necessary," the minutes said.

TD Securities senior Asia-Pacific rates strategist Prashant Newnaha said the minutes showed the board hadn't ruled out lifting the cash rate again, but the hurdle for near-term policy tightening was now higher.

Six of the ASX's 11 sectors finished lower and five closed higher.

Property was the biggest loser, dropping 2.3 per cent as Goodman Group lost 3.0 per cent and Abacus Group retreated 5.4 per cent.

Goldminers were some of the worst performers as the yellow metal dropped as low as $US3,955 an ounce in morning trading, its lowest level since November.

After its monster year in 2025, gold has been struggling in recent months on the prospect the US will raise interest rates later this year, increasing the opportunity cost of holding the non-yield-bearing asset.

Northern Star dropped 5.8 per cent, Evolution retreated 5.2 per cent, Regis Resources declined 6.9 per cent and Minerals 260 fell 10.4 per cent, making it the worst laggard in the ASX200.

After the ASX closed for the day, gold staged a bit of a bounce, climbing back over $US4,000 to change hands at $US4,040 around 5pm.

The iron ore giants were also lower, with BHP dropping 0.7 per cent to $59.40, Fortescue falling 1.9 per cent to $19.15 and Rio Tinto declining 0.9 per cent to $172.51.

The big four retail banks were mixed, with ANZ up 0.4 per cent to $35.35 and CBA rising 0.6 per cent to $164.62, while NAB and Westpac both lost 0.1 per cent, to $37.86 and $35.21, respectively.??

The Australian dollar was trading for 68.77 US cents, from 68.90 US cents at 5pm on Monday.

ON THE ASX:

??The S&P/ASX200 on Tuesday dropped 44.7 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 8,778.7

The broader All Ordinaries lost 40.7 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 8,986.2

The NZX 50 Lost -17.75 points (-0.13%) to 13603.91

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

Graincorp Limited

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:

U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA climbed 0.3% to 52,319.20, the S&P 500 rose 0.8% to 7,499.36 and the Nasdaq added 1.5% to 26,213.72.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were SanDisk Corp SNDK surging 10.89%, Axon Enterprise Inc AXON jumped 9.79%, and Vertiv Holdings Co VRT lifted 9.07%.

The biggest decliners were Digital Realty Trust Inc DLR which dropped 5.76%, Hormel Foods Corp HRL fell 5.67%, and Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc ZBH lost 5.61%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.5% to 4,094.40 and the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 2.1% to 2,840.67.

Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 0.6% to 22,881.02.

Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average lifted 0.9% to 70,062.32.

India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX slipped 0.3% to 76,478.67.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index lifted 0.1% to 10,497.12. In Europe, shares closed higher. The Germany's DAX added 1.5% to 24,995.81, and the France's CAC 40 gained 0.4% to 8,403.99