NZ Sharemarket Up 2.7% In Two Days

The New Zealand sharemarket, feeling the relief like others overseas, surged for the second day running on the agreement of a two-week ceasefire in the Middle East conflict.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index reached an intraday high of 13,366.47 points at noon when US President Donald Trump announced he was suspending major attacks on Iran for two weeks.

The index traded steadily for the afternoon, also relieved that the Reserve Bank of NZ (RBNZ) kept the Official Cash Rate (OCR) on hold, and closed at 13,253.94, up 184.28 points or 1.41%. The index had risen 2.7% in two trading days.

There were 108 gainers and 28 decliners on the main board, and volumes had reached 44.2 million shares worth $152.2m, with leading blue-chip stocks making strong gains.

'Key driver is oil'

Offshore, the S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 2.62% to 8,957.60 points at 6pm NZ time, nearing its record high of 9,202.9 set in late February. The Japanese Nikkei 225 had risen 5.47% to 56,357.06 points, and the Hong Kong Hang Seng had increased 3.06% to 25,885.07.

All because the ceasefire "everywhere, including Lebanon” caused the oil price to fall sharply, with Brent Crude trading at US$94 (NZ$161.16) a barrel, down 14%. US index futures climbed more than 2%.

The ceasefire provided immediate relief and some breathing space for markets in the second month of the conflict. The key driver is oil – it has been the poster child for developments in the war.  Equities have moved inversely to the price of oil. You saw that in spades today.

The fall in the oil price helped ease inflation fears, but it’s only a conditional ceasefire on the promise that the Hormuz Strait gets moving again.

We’ve seen these last-minute pull-backs from Trump before, and the clock has been reset and ticking down. You can’t blame the markets for remaining sceptical.

The RBNZ held the official cash rate at 2.25% but warned that if medium-term inflation looked likely to be persistent, it would act decisively.

“The Monetary Policy Committee is focused on ensuring that inflation returns to the 2% target midpoint over the medium term.”

The RBNZ forecast inflation at 4.2% by the end of June (it was 3.1% at the end of December), assuming oil prices fell below US$100 a barrel.

The Reserve Bank was the first central bank to meet post-ceasefire, and it has to deal with some uncertainty.

The reaction of the Reserve Bank was relatively predictable, but it is mindful of the second round of inflation and growth pressures, and we may see increases in the OCR later in the year.

Local stocks

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 87c or 2.28% to $38.96; Auckland International Airport increased 25c or 3.12% to $8.27; Freightways rose 55c or 4.33% to $13.25; and Mercury Energy collected 15c or 2.38% to $6.44.

Infratil gained 22c, or 1.9%, to $11.80 after telling the market that the value of its 49.72% shareholding in the CDC data centres increased by A$500m (NZ$605.65m) to A$7.45 billion ($9b) at the end of March.

CDC’s valuation improved 7.2% to A$15b during the quarter, reflecting the successful completion of the A$500m equity raise – Infratil contributed $250m – to accelerate the development pipeline.

Skellerup increased 18c or 3.28% to $5.67; Gentrack was up 20c or 3.08% to $6.70; Fletcher Building rose 15c or 5.1% to $3.09; Ryman Healthcare added 4c or 1.87% to $2.18; and Tourism Holdings gained 18c or 8.61% to $2.27.

Air NZ, which uses 22,000 barrels of jet fuel a day, was up a further 2c or 4.4% to 47.5c.

The airline said its jet fuel bill has more than doubled because of the Middle East conflict to $8.5m a day, up from $4m. Jet fuel prices increased from US$85 a barrel to more than $200 during the past six weeks.

Other gainers were Tower up 4c or 2.06% to $1.98; Vulcan Steel increasing 24c or 3.48% to $7.14; Napier Port rising 21c or 6.21% to $3.59; Delegat Group adding 12c or 3.13% to $3.96; and ikeGPS up 4c or 4.17% to $1.

Dual-listed banking groups ANZ added $1.51 or 3.34% to $46.70, and Westpac was up $1.90 or 3.85% to $51.20.

Rua Gold, gaining 5c or 2.94% to $1.75, reported high-grade intercepts during its drilling and sampling programme in the Reefton Goldfield on the West Coast. The miner said, “The scale, grade and repeatability of the gold finds can support meaningful resource growth across the district.”

Comvita, up 0.005c to 67c, told the market it is continuing to progress a capital raise and it has extended the maturity of its existing banking facilities to May 31.

Source: BusinessDesk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 21 points Lower 8942.

Wednesday 8 April 2026 - close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's share market is trading at its highest level since early March after the US and Iran struck a two-week ceasefire, easing soaring oil prices and boosting investor confidence.

The S&P/ASX200 gained 233 points on Wednesday, up 2.55 per cent, to 8,951.8, as the broader All Ordinaries lifted by 244.5 points, or 2.74 per cent, to 9,165.7.

Oil prices plummeted on news of the temporary truce, which hinges on key agreements including the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz to western oil tankers, after its effective blockade by Iran plunged the world into an energy crisis.

It was the bourse's best day in about a year, returning $83 billion to the All Ordinaries' $3.1 trillion combined market value after it fell more than 10 per cent from February's record high to its lowest point during the conflict.

"A great day for Australian investors with real strength across the board and the only stocks under pressure are those that have been performing well during this very tough period for markets," Moomoo market strategist Michael McCarthy told AAP.

But fairly low trading volumes suggested a lack of conviction in the rally.

"Big moves up like this are just as concerning as big drops, because they suggest that volatility remains elevated and until we see more calm trading conditions, investors should remain on alert," Mr McCarthy said.

Eight of 11 local sectors charged higher, led by miners and interest rate-sensitive segments, while energy, utilities and consumer staples dipped after appreciating during more than five weeks of conflict.

Gold miners were among the best performers, as the precious metal firmed to $US4,833 ($A6,837) an ounce, helping lift the All Ordinaries gold sub industry almost nine per cent.

Iron ore giants BHP and Rio Tinto were also strong, each advancing more than three per cent, while investors bought up "shiny new" sub-sectors such as battery minerals and rare earths producers.

Unsurprisingly, energy stocks missed their invite to the party, the segment tumbling a whopping 7.2 per cent, as the West Texas crude oil ??benchmark crumbled from above $US118 a barrel to as low as $US92.

Woodside was hit particularly hard, shedding more than a 10th of its value to trade at $32.06 a share, but still up a healthy 13.4 per cent since the US and Israel began shelling Iran on February 28.

IT stocks surged 7.3 per cent higher, real estate trusts jumped almost four per cent and consumer discretionary players improved by 3.5 per cent.

Local banks improved, with NAB leading its big four counterparts higher with a 3.9 per cent push to $142.18, after underperforming the other three in recent weeks on the back of some cautious updates from investment giant Morgan Stanley.

Despite the improved outlook, the impact of the conflict was expected to linger, Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda said.

"Growth at the margins will still be weaker and inflation is certainly going to be higher because of the crisis, and that's going to have an impact on corporate earnings as well as inflation," he told AAP.

Also there were unexpected pressure points throughout supply chains that had not yet been exposed, or discounted into some asset price, Mr Rodda said.

The Australian dollar is buying 70.70 US cents, up from 69.19 US cents on the improved risk sentiment and a rosier outlook for global growth and commodity prices.

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 gained 223 points, or 2.55 per cent, to 8,951.8.

The broader All Ordinaries rose 244.5 points, or 2.74 per cent, to 9,165.7.

The NZX 50 added 184.28 points (1.39%) to 13,253.94 while the Nikkei gained 2878.86 points (5.11%) at the time of writing, to be closed at 56,308.42

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

Myer Holdings Limited

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]: U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA lifted 2.8% to 47,909.92, the S&P 500 increased 2.5% to 6,782.81, and the Nasdaq gained 2.8% to 22,635.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Teradyne Inc TER surging 11.84%, Intel Corp INTC jumped 11.45%, and Carnival Corp CCL lifted 11.23%.

The biggest decliners were APA Corp APA which dropped 9.80%, LyondellBasell Industries NV LYB fell 7.53%, and Workday Inc WDAY lost 6.54%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.7% to 3,995, and the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 4.3% to 2,627.92.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 3.1% to 25,893.02.

Japanese shares closed higher. The Nikkei Stock Average lifted 5.4% to 56,308.42.

India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX rose 3.9% to 77,562.9.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index rose 2.5% to 1,0608.88.

In Europe, shares closed higher. Germany's DAX rose 5.1% to 24,080.63, and France's CAC 40 increased 4.5% to 8,263.87.