Market Announcements
Market Summary
The New Zealand sharemarket had a very late rise yesterday ahead of some important company results and trading updates later this week and next week. The S&P/NZX 50 Index shot ahead in the last half hour of the brokers’ matching session and closed at 13,499.04, up 34.58 points or 0.26% after reaching a lunchtime low of 13,420.14. The index has risen nearly 3% so far this year. There were 82 gainers and 63 decliners on the main board with 30.4 million shares worth $105.1m changing hands.
Turners Automotive reports its first half results on Thursday, while Gentrack, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare and Ryman Healthcare are reporting next week. Food and administration prices and local authority rates were still strong, but rental inflation was pulling back nicely. The RBNZ is expected to announce a further 25 basis point cut in the official cash rate on Nov 26. ANZ Research said if the bank doesn’t cut, the market reaction could be violent, putting upward pressure on interest rates. That could harm confidence and put the nascent recovery at risk.
Turners Automotive was down 10c to $7.70; Gentrack declined 38c or 4.71% to $7.69; and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare decreased 71c or 1.88% to $36.98 on trade worth $16.95m.
Ebos Group increased 63c or 2.19% to $29.45; Freightways was up 17c to $13.88; Meridian gained 12c or 2.06% to $5.95; Scales Corp rose 19c or 3.32% to $5.91; and Winton Land was up 10c or 5% to $2.10.
Auckland International Airport was up 10c to $7.90 on trade worth $14.41m after reporting a 2% increase in total passengers to 1.6m for October compared to the same month last year.
Summerset increased 40c or 3.27% to $12.65; Sky TV was up 9c or 2.62% to $3.52; while Serko was down 14c or 5.41% to $2.45; and Seeka declined 14c or 3.04% to $4.46.
Manuka honey producer Comvita, down 4c or 7.55% to 49c, has fallen more than 18.5% in the last two trading days after a group of shareholders scuppered the takeover proposal from Florenz at 80c a share. The final results from Friday’s special meeting were 54.34% of votes cast in favour of the scheme of arrangement and 45.66% against. Of the total shares in Comvita, 44.25% favoured the scheme and 37.19% didn’t – not enough to meet the threshold of 75% and 50%. Comvita and Florenz have agreed to terminate the scheme implementation agreement, and the Comvita board is now working on a recapitalisation plan before the annual meeting on December 17. Comvita said the board is working closely with its lenders and advisers to determine the most appropriate next steps following this outcome. This work is progressing with urgency and discipline to secure a solution that stabilises the business, positions it to grow again, and reduces ongoing risk to shareholders.
Blackpearl Group was down 2.5c or 2.16% to $1.13 after telling the market it raised A$10.2m (NZ$11.74m) through a placement for new shares.
Property for Industry, unchanged at $2.49, has bought two properties on Auckland’s Mt Wellington Highway for $36m with annual rent of $2.069m. The company now has 3.3ha of contiguous property fronting the highway.
The Warehouse Group, down 0.005c to 79.5c, reported a 0.9% increase in sales to $674.1m for the 13 weeks ending Oct 27. Group gross profit margin was down 40 basis points compared with the same period last year. The iconic retailer said Noel Leeming, sales up 0.7% to $230.7m, and Warehouse, sales increasing 2.6% to $52.2m, improved their gross profit margins. The Warehouse margin remains under pressure with sales at $389m, up 0.7%. Online sales increased 8.2% and comprised 7% of total sales in the first quarter compared with 6.5% in the prior period, driven by sales growth in Noel Leeming.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 20 points lower at 8620.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: The local share market has managed to avoid a fifth straight day of losses thanks to late afternoon gains that propelled the bourse to a flat finish.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had been down by as many as 45.6 points in early morning trading but managed to finish Monday up 1.9 points at 8,636.4, while the broader All Ordinaries gained 8.7 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 8,915.7.
Dip-buyers might have been snapping up bargains after three straight weeks of losses. The ASX200 has struggled since hitting an all-time high of 9,115.2 on October 21, falling more than five per cent since then.
The Reserve Bank is scheduled to release minutes of its November 5 meeting on Tuesday, which could provide insight into whether officials expect any more rate cuts to be forthcoming.
The ASX's RBA Rate Tracker on Friday gave just six per cent implied odds that Australia's central bank would cut rates at its December 9 meeting.
Four of the ASX's 11 sectors finished lower on Monday, with seven gaining ground.
Energy was the biggest mover, climbing 1.1 per cent as Ampol rose 3.8 per cent and Viva Energy added 3.2 per cent.
In the financial sector, the big four banks were mixed.
CBA dropped 1.0 per cent to $155.79, its lowest level since mid-April, while Westpac added 0.6 per cent to $39.03 and ANZ rose 0.5 per cent to $36.18. NAB was flat at $41.47.
In the material sector, IperionX shares had a wild ride on their resumption of trading following a two-day suspension after the US-based titanium and critical minerals company was targeted by a short seller alleging inaccuracies in its accounts.
IperionX said in response that Spruce Point Capital had never engaged with it or requested to visit its titanium manufacturing operations in Virginia, and that its financial statements were prepared in accordance with Australian accounting standards.
IPX shares finished down 3.0 per cent to a more than three-month low of $5.44, but at one point changed hands as low as $4.24, a 24 per cent drop from Wednesday's close.
In the heavyweight mining sector, BHP dropped 0.6 per cent to $42.48, Rio Tinto gained 0.6 per cent to $132.59 and Fortescue added 1.1 per cent to $20.46.
The Australian dollar was buying 65.23 US cents, from 65.37 US cents at Friday's ASX close.
ON THE ASX:
The S&P/ASX200 gained 1.9 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 8,636.4
The broader All Ordinaries rose 8.7 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 8,915.7
The NZX 50 Lost -62.62 points (-0.47%) to 13436.42
Companies Holding Annual General Meeting (ASX 300):
BlueScope Steel Limited
Infomedia Limited
L1 Group Limited
Lotus Resources Limited
Regis Healthcare Limited
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended lower. The DJIA slipped 1.2% to 46,590.24, the S&P 500 fell 0.9% to 6,672.41 and the Nasdaq slipped 0.8% to 22,708.08.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Alphabet Inc GOOGL surging 3.10%, Alphabet Inc GOOG jumped 3.09%, and Western Digital Corp WDC lifted 2.92%.
The biggest decliners were Dell Technologies Inc DELL which dropped 8.49%, Expedia Group Inc EXPE fell 7.78%, and Generac Holdings Inc GNRC lost 7.11%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed mixed. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.5% to 3,972.03 and the Shenzhen Composite Index was unchanged at 2,511.84.
Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index declined 0.7% to 26,384.28.
Japanese shares ended lower. The Nikkei Stock Average slipped 0.1% to 50,323.91.
India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX gained 0.5% to 84,950.95.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished lower. The FTSE 100 Index slipped 0.2% to 9,675.43. In Europe, shares closed lower. The Germany's DAX fell 1.2% to 23,590.52, and the France's CAC 40 dropped 0.6% to 8,119.02
