Market Announcements
Market Summary
The normally stable energy sector stumbled yesterday after a large parcel of shares in Contact was put up for sale, and the New Zealand sharemarket fell more than 1.5% in a broad sell-off. The S&P/NZX 50 Index was on a downward slide throughout the day and closed at 12,761.03, down 213.29 points or 1.64% – its lowest level in nearly seven weeks. It’s been a volatile week so far for the index – down 1.56% on Monday and up 1.66% on Tuesday. There were 105 decliners and just 37 gainers on the main board, with turnover reaching 36.1 million shares worth $130.1m.
The energy sector on the NZX was down 1.5%, with Mercury falling 25c or 3.49% to $6.91; Meridian decreasing 11c or 1.86% to $5.79; and Vector declining 25c or 4.72% to $5.05. Infratil, up 3c to $15.29, is selling 53.5m of its Contact Energy shares in a fully-underwritten block trade and expects to gross $495.17m from the sale at a discounted $9.25 a share. This reduces Infratil’s stake in Contact from 13.28% to 9.08%, obtained when Manawa Energy was sold last July. Contact went into a trading halt and last traded at $9.98. Infratil said it has committed to retaining the remaining shares through to at least Contact’s full-year results announcement in mid-August.
In the US, the major indices were weaker after bond yields continued to rise, with the 30 Year Treasury Note yield hitting 5.18%, the highest since 2007.
At home, cinema management software company Vista Group rose 27.5c or 13.78% to $2.27 after signing an agreement with Cinépolis to convert its 504 sites (more than 4,100 screens) in Mexico onto the cloud platform. This follows the transition of Cinépolis’ Spanish cinemas. Vista said, “We couldn’t be prouder to have signed this agreement with Cinépolis – a giant in the cinema market globally.”
Summerset fell 41c or 5.47% to $7.09; Freightways was down 32c or 2.44% to $12.82; Mainfreight declined $1.74 or 3.14% to $53.60; Auckland International Airport shed 28c or 3.39% to $7.97; and Port of Tauranga dropped 13c to $8.07. A2 Milk was down a further 32c or 4.46% to a one-year low of $6.85, having fallen from $11.21 on April 10. Spark declined 6c or 2.97% to $1.96; Fletcher Building decreased 9c or 2.98% to $2.93; Gentrack was down 23c or 5.41% to $4.02; Skellerup shed 15c or 2.51% to $5.83; and Tourism Holdings fell 10c or 4.65% to $2.05.
Napier Port was up 11c or 3.06% to $3.70 after reporting an 8.8% increase in half-year revenue to $84.9m and a 10.8% drop in net profit to $17.99m. The previous year’s profit included insurance payments following Cyclone Gabrielle. The port company is paying an increased interim dividend of 5.25c a share on June 24, and is forecasting full-year operating earnings of $70m-$74m. For the half-year, operating activities rose 12.5% to $37.3m. Container volumes increased 3.5% to 116,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units), and revenue was $49.9m, up 16.7%. Bulk cargo volume decreased 1.5% to 1.68m tonnes, and revenue was $237m, up 5.9%.
Travel software provider Serko gained 5.5c or 3.94% to $1.45 after reporting a 34% rise in revenue to $120.88m and a net loss of $17.7m for the year ending March. The partnership with Booking.com for Business continued to grow with a 31% rise in completed room nights to 4.3m and active customers increasing 36% to 301,000. Serko told the market it has made a strong start to the 2027 financial year, with booking volumes slightly ahead of growth expectations. Income is expected to be $128m-$134m and total spend $132m-$140m.
Argosy Property, down 3.5c or 3.27% to $1.03, reported a steady annual result, with revenue up 3.3% to $120.77m and net profit gaining 1.5% to $127.73m, helped by a $58.5m portfolio revaluation gain at the end of March.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 104 points higher at 8633.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's share market is trading at seven-week lows, with all but one local sector in the red after a bond sell-off articulated investor fears for global economic growth.
The S&P/ASX200 fell 108.1 points, or 1.26 per cent on Wednesday, to 8,496.6, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 112.5 points, or 1.27 per cent, to 8,717.
Most sectors ended the day in the red, after an overnight spike in bond yields sparked a "sell everything" session on Wall Street overnight, which was echoed by major indices in Asia and Australia.
"Gold came under pressure, silver came under pressure, bitcoin came under pressure, shares came under pressure," Moomoo market strategist Michael McCarthy told AAP.
"In other words, it was a 'sell everything' night, and that tells us that this is not about risk appetites - this is about concern about a deteriorating economic outlook."
Miners and banks weighed heavily, with basic materials down 2.1 per cent and the heavyweight financials sector losing 1.1 per cent.
"That pressure we're seeing on major miners and banks looks to me very much like international investors pulling their funds back in a move to safety," Mr McCarthy said.
BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue tumbled as iron ore futures slipped below $US110 a tonne, while gold miners were a sea of red as the precious metal fell to a seven-week low of $US4,472 ($A6,290).
The big four banks all ended the session lower, with ANZ and Westpac, along with investment giant Macquarie, each dropping more than two per cent.
Energy stocks were ultimately flat, as oil prices hung onto their recent gains, while coal miners were mixed and investors continued to unload uranium stocks.
Airlines were again under pressure, with Qantas and Virgin Australia dropping 1.2 per cent and 4.7 per cent, respectively.
The broader industrials sector fell 1.5 per cent as Brambles continued to plunge following Monday's sales guidance downgrade.
Utilities, communications stocks and real estate trusts each slipped 1.6 per cent or more in broad-sector sell-offs.
Despite the ongoing concerns around the Middle East energy shock and price growth surge, investors should be careful about making reactive changes to their portfolios, InvestmentMarkets chief executive Darren Connolly said.
"Periods like this are a reminder that investing is a long-term exercise," Mr Connolly said.??
"Volatility is the price of admission and the fundamentals of diversification, discipline and patience matter most during these times."
In company news, Webjet shares slumped by 11 per cent following news it stands to lose millions of dollars in revenue each year after Virgin Australia flagged plans to launch its own online travel management offering.
James Hardie shares faded by 0.90 per cent to $26.55, after a slip in fourth quarter adjusted earnings overshadowed decent sales growth in the three quarters to March.
The Australian dollar is buying 71.02 US cents, down from 71.48 US cents on Tuesday at 5pm.
ON THE ASX:
The S&P/ASX200 fell 108.1 points, or 1.26 per cent, to 8,496.6
The broader All Ordinaries gained 112.5 ??points, or 1.27 per cent, to 8,717
The NZX 50 added 7.21 points (0.06%) to 12768.24
Companies Holding Annual General Meeting (ASX 300):
Karoon Energy Ltd
Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited
Ventia Services Group Limited
Companies commencing Ex-Dividend Trading Today (ASX 300):
Orica Limited
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA gained 1.3% to 50,009.35, the S&P 500 climbed 1.1% to 7,432.97 and the Nasdaq lifted 1.5% to 26,270.36.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were United Airlines Holdings Inc UAL surging 9.99%, Super Micro Computer Inc SMCI jumped 9.49%, and Delta Air Lines Inc DAL lifted 9.39%.
The biggest decliners were Hasbro Inc HAS which dropped 8.83%, CME Group Inc CME fell 4.05%, and Intuit Inc INTU lost 3.95%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.2% to 4,162.18 and the Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 0.3% to 2,869.17.
Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index slipped 0.6% to 25,651.12.
Japanese shares ended lower. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.2% to 59,804.41.
India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX lifted 0.2% to 75,336.35.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index gained 1% to 10,432.34. In Europe, shares closed higher. The Germany's DAX climbed 1.4% to 24,737.24, and the France's CAC 40 rose 1.7% to 8,117.42
