NZ Sharemarket Rises

The New Zealand sharemarket was up on Thursday as most shares across the main board rose. However, Vista Group shareholders sold off in high volume after its half-year results. On the main board, the S&P/NZX 50 Index closed up 0.53% or 67.54 points, rising to 12,834.08, after 32 million shares worth $110.4m changed hands. The S&P/NZX 20 index closed at 7,515.34 points, up 0.48%, while the S&P/NZX 10 index ended the day at 12,567.92, rising 0.40%. There were 80 gainers on the main board and 50 decliners.

Vista Group reported its first-half results with mixed reactions from analysts. The business reported 11% revenue growth over the period, but it expects its full-year result to be near the low end of the guidance range. Vista Group’s share price fell 3.32% or 11c to $3.20 after 2.8 million shares changed hands on turnover worth $9m.

Westpac lifted 6.45% or $2.39 to $39.45. Freightways also had a positive day, lifting 3.60% or 40c to $11.50. Elsewhere, Napier Port gave back some of its earnings from Wednesday's session, falling 1.28% to $3.08, down 4c. Spark's share price also fell, declining 6c to $2.48 after 1.4 m shares changed hands on turnover worth $3.6m.

Wall Street stocks pushed higher on Wednesday (US time), lifting the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to fresh records as markets extended a rally after data showed United States inflation remains stable.

Source: Business Desk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 8 points higher at 8838.

- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's share market has hit a fresh intraday record, but couldn't find the buyers to top its best close as the materials sector broke an eight-session hot streak.

The S&P/ASX200 hit 8,899.1 during the session, but finished 46.7 points higher, or up 0.53 per cent, to 8,873.8, as the broader All Ordinaries rose 46 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 9,149.1.

The top 200 ended the day just seven points short of its highest-ever close set on Tuesday.

Eight of 11 local sectors finished higher, led by a 1.3 per cent rebound in financials after Wednesday's CBA sell-off and as utilities rallied 3.5 per cent rally after Origin shares soared on strong earnings.

"It's certainly a positive that we snapped back and CBA has held on pretty firmly after the liquidation we saw yesterday," Pepperstone head of research Chris Weston told AAP.

"But we're still at very, very close to all-time highs, which is a really big positive."

Westpac helped push the financials sector higher with a more than six per cent gain after strong quarterly results, with ANZ, NAB and Macquarie all up 1.7 per cent or more as CBA slipped 1.1 per cent.

Raw materials finished in the red for the first time since August 1, as iron ore prices rolled over and weighed on large cap miners such as Rio Tinto (-3.7 per cent) and Fortescue (-1.7 per cent).

Gold miners were mixed as futures for the precious metal hovered around US?$3,410 (A?$5,210) an ounce, seemingly in a holding pattern as risk-on sentiment pushed benchmark equity indexes in the US, Japan and Australia to records.

Cryptocurrency Bitcoin also hit a fresh peak, breaking above US?$124,000 (A?$189,595) via exchange-traded funds (ETF) inflows and a Trump administration order allowing US retirement funds to invest in cryptocurrencies and private companies.

Health care stocks were strong, up 0.5 per cent after imaging IT provider Pro?Medicus posted a whopping 40 per cent lift in full-year net profit to A?$115.2?million.

Interest rate-sensitive consumer discretionary stocks and the real estate sector also performed well, up more than 0.7 per cent each following Tuesday's Reserve Bank interest rate cut which brought the cash rate to 3.6 per cent.

Interest rate swap markets are pricing in another 25 basis point cuts by November and potentially a final cut before the end of the year, which would have huge implications for Aussie banks and borrowers, Pepperstone's Mr Weston said.

"If we get down to around a three per cent cash rate, there's going to be quite intense competition to pick up volumes and try and protect those net interest margins," he told AAP.

Communications stocks underperformed the broader market with a 0.9 per cent drop, led by a 2.6 per cent Telstra sell-off after its results failed to impress investors.

The Australian dollar is buying 65.37 US cents, up slightly from 65.32 US cents on Wednesday at 5?pm.

The S&P/ASX200 rose 46.7 points, or 0.53 per cent, to 8,873.8

The broader All Ordinaries jumped 46 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 9,149.1

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:

One Australian dollar buys:

65.37 US cents, from 65.32 US cents on Wednesday

95.75 Japanese yen, from 96.61 Japanese yen

55.94 euro cents, from 55.91 euro cents

48.15 British pence, from 48.36 British pence

109.74 NZ cents, from 109.65 NZ cents

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

Dicker Data Limited

Rio Tinto Limited

Scentre Group

Companies Holding Annual General Meeting (ASX 300):

OFX Group Limited

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:

U.S. stocks ended flat. The DJIA was unchanged at 44,911.26, the S&P 500 was unchanged at 6,468.54, and the Nasdaq was unchanged at 21,710.67.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Intel Corp INTC surging 7.38%, Eli Lilly and Co LLY jumped 3.62%, and Texas Pacific Land Corp TPL lifted 3.42%.

The biggest decliners were Tapestry Inc TPR which dropped 15.77%, Amcor PLC AMCR fell 11.92%, and Deere & Co DE lost 6.74%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.5% to 3,666.44, and the Shenzhen Composite Index slipped 1.2% to 2,261.66.

Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 0.4% to 25,519.32.

Japanese shares closed lower. The Nikkei Stock Average declined 1.4% to 42,649.26.

India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX rose 0.1% to 80,597.66.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index rose 0.1% to 9,177.24.

In Europe, shares closed higher. Germany's DAX rose 0.8% to 24,377.5, and France's CAC 40 increased 0.8% to 7,870.34.