Market Announcements
Market Summary
The New Zealand sharemarket rose on Wednesday, with healthcare company Pacific Edge rallying on positive news for its testing solution. The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed up 0.17% or 22.51 points, rising to 13,276.24, after 36.9 million shares worth $150.5m traded. The S&P/NZX 20 index closed at 7,682.51 points, up 0.11%, while the S&P/NZX 10 index ended the day at 12,825.84, rising 0.27%. There were 68 gainers and 64 decliners on the main board.
Pacific Edge was the “star of the day”, with the company’s share price rallying 12.77% to $0.15 after 2.7m shares changed hands on turnover worth $425,200. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has recommended a much stronger than expected price for their Triage Plus test, at over US$1,300 [NZ$2,186] per test rather than the draft of just over US$1,000.
Briscoe Group released its half-year result, reporting flat revenue compared with the same period last year, while profit fell 11.8% to $29.3m. Its share price fell 5c or 0.88% to $5.64.
Infratil also had a positive day, with its share price lifting 2.13% or 26c to $12.45, after 568,000 shares changed hands on turnover worth $7.07m.
Ebos Group shed more from its share price after its earnings announcement in late August, dropping 2.47% or 74c to $29.23 on turnover worth $14.39m. Mainfreight also had its share price drop, falling 5.86% or $3.75 to $60.25. Meanwhile, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose late in the day, rising 0.34% to $38.43 on turnover worth $26.7m. Wall Street stock indices powered to fresh records on Tuesday, shrugging off disappointing jobs data amid expectations that it will lead to lower US Federal Reserve interest rates. US Labor Department estimated that 911,000 fewer jobs were created in the United States than previously reported in a revision to data for the 12 months ending in March. The figures suggest the job market has been slowing for longer than previously thought, further bolstering the odds of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts following poor monthly reports for July and August.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 20 points lower at 8805.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australian shares have edged higher after a woeful day for miners was eclipsed by strength in the banks and other sectors.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 closed 26.9 points higher on Wednesday, up 0.31 per cent to 8,830.4, as the broader All Ordinaries rose by 14.5 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 9,095.2.
Nine of 11 local sectors finished the day in the green as financial stocks (+1.3 per cent), telecommunications, and the industrials segment led the gains.
Raw materials tumbled 1.7 per cent after an already dreary commodity price outlook worsened on the back of a significant downward revision of US jobs figures for the year to March, Moomoo market strategist Michael McCarthy said.
"Of course, the US economy is still a very significant driver of the global economy, so the outlook for industrial commodities has really been hurt on that revision overnight," he told AAP.
Large cap miners Rio Tinto and Fortescue both tumbled more than two per cent, while sector giant BHP fell 1.2 per cent to $40.46 despite iron ore prices hovering at seven-month highs above $US106 a tonne.
Even gold miners were broadly weaker, despite the gravity-defying precious metal hovering within one per cent of $US3,674 ($A5,560) an ounce.
The big four banks helped buoy the bourse, with NAB, CBA and ANZ up 1.5 per cent each, while Westpac outperformed with a 1.7 per cent lift to $38.19 after a rough session on Tuesday.
NAB flagged it would cut 410 jobs a day after ANZ announced it would axe 3500 positions and farewell market boss Anshul Sidher in a broad restructure.
Insurers were also strong, with IAG and Suncorp each up more than 1.4 per cent each, and QBE lifting 1.0 per cent to $20.98 despite going ex-dividend.
Not-so-lucky were Perpetual Investment Company (-5.0 per cent), Brambles (-0.7 per cent), Medibank (-0.8 per cent), which all fell after locking-in its shareholder payouts.
Westpac, Breville, Nine Entertainment, Perpetual Ltd will go ex-dividend on Thursday.
Real estate stocks performed well, up 0.6 per cent as Goodman Group rebounded two per cent to $33.46, erasing Wednesday's losses.
A 0.9 per cent lift in telecommunications stocks was helped by a 1.7 per cent rally in Telstra shares, as chief executive Vicki Brady called for simpler regulation and cheaper spectrum access in a National Press Club address.
Consumer-facing sectors enjoyed modest gains. Wesfarmers edged 0.6 per cent higher to $92.84 and Woolworths, up 1.1 per cent, more than accounted for a 0.6 per cent slip in Coles shares on the staples side.
Soul Patts rose 0.6 per cent to $44.56 and Brickworks 0.3 per cent as shareholders voted overwhelmingly to merge with the investment giant in a unique, 56-year cross-ownership structure.
?The Australian dollar is buying 66.01 US cents, down slightly from 66.05 on Tuesday at 5pm.??
Looking ahead, investors will be eyeing US producer price data overnight and inflation figures a day later for signs of stagflation in the world's largest economy.
"The S-word would be the worst of both worlds," Moomoo's Mr McCarthy said.
"Growth tanking and inflation rising, and I can't see how we can avoid a significant share market reaction if that's what the data shows."
ON THE ASX:
The S&P/ASX200 gained 26.9 points on Wednesday, or 0.31 per cent, to 8,830.4
The broader All Ordinaries rose 14.5 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 9,095.2
The NZX 50 Lost -9.57 points (-0.07%) to 13266.67
Companies commencing Ex-Dividend Trading Today (ASX 300):
Air New Zealand Limited
Breville Group Limited
Kogan.com Ltd
McMillan Shakespeare Limited
Navigator Global Investments Limited
Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited
Perpetual Limited
SGH Limited
Westgold Resources Limited
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended mixed. The DJIA dropped 0.5% to 45,490.92, the S&P 500 lifted 0.3% to 6,532.04 and the Nasdaq was unchanged at 21,886.06.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Oracle Corp ORCL surging 35.98%, Broadcom Inc AVGO jumped 9.80%, and Vistra Corp VST lifted 8.03%.
The biggest decliners were Synopsys Inc SNPS which dropped 35.84%, The Trade Desk Inc TTD fell 11.95%, and EPAM Systems Inc EPAM lost 7.24%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.1% to 3,812.22 and the Shenzhen Composite Index rose 0.3% to 2,407.52.
Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index climbed 1% to 26,200.26.
Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.9% to 43,837.67.
India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX added 0.4% to 81,425.15.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished lower. The FTSE 100 Index declined 0.2% to 9,225.39. In Europe, shares closed mixed. The Germany's DAX fell 0.4% to 23,632.95, and the France's CAC 40 lifted 0.2% to 7,761.32
