NZ Shares Climb, Vulcan Steel Leads As Reporting Season Approaches

New Zealand share prices ended firmly on Friday as the business end of the reporting season approaches. The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed 55.30 points (0.43%) higher at 12,889.38, with 21.6 million shares worth $79.5m trading. There were 84 rises and 49 falls on the main board.

Among the bigger performers was Vulcan Steel, which ended 25c (3.55%) higher at $7.29, taking its rise for the week to 9.5% and 16.6% since the end of June. The Australasian steel distributor reports its annual results on Aug 26. Vulcan’s competitor in NZ, Steel and Tube, which reports a day before, gained 1c to 71c. The steel companies’ gains follow data showing NZ’s manufacturing sector moved back into expansion during July, according to the latest BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI), which hit 52.8 in the month.

Among the other movers, Infratil gained 17c to $11.94, Turners Automotive dropped 8c to $6.76, and Fletcher Building put on 5c to $3.13. Cinema software company Vista dropped 6c to $3.14 in the aftermath of Thursday’s interim result, which saw its net loss shrink to $1.2m from a $2.7m loss a year earlier.

The Reserve Bank is due to issue its Monetary Policy Statement on Wednesday. Market consensus is for a 25 basis point cut in the official cash rate to 3.00%, but where economists differ is how much the bank will cut in the months ahead.

Source: Business Desk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 8 points lower at 8923.

- close [Morningstar with AAP]: The local bourse has ended the week on its highest ever note, locking in a record close after hitting new intraday peaks for five straight sessions.

The S&P/ASX200 shrugged off a midday wobble to charge higher by 64.8 points, or 0.73 per cent, to a best-ever close of 8,938.6, a 1.4 per cent gain for the week..

The broader all Ordinaries surged 63 points higher, up 0.69 per cent, to 9,212.1, the best close for Australia's top 500 stocks now with a combined value of more than $2.9 trillion.

Fading worst-case tariff expectations, a Reserve Bank interest rate cut, record highs on Wall St and generally positive local earnings had helped deliver the historic week, CommSec market analyst Steven Daghlian said.

"It's a trend that just highlights how enthusiastic markets are at the moment, but there's still tests ahead in the coming weeks," he told AAP.

"We're getting close to 9000 (points), and sometimes when we get close to those really big milestones you can see markets getting a little nervous, and the next two weeks will be the busiest of the reporting season."

Nine of 11 local sectors finished higher, led by 1.1 per cent gains in financials, mining stocks and the energy sector.

All big four banks finished in the green, Westpac up more than eight per cent in two days to $36.18, while CBA snapped its post-earnings slump to reclaim 0.6 per cent to $168.17.

Large cap miners forged a path for the materials sector, with BHP, Fortescue and Rio Tinto all up more than 1.1 per cent after weak economic figures out of China prompted hopes of future stimulus.

Gold miners edged higher as the Australian dollar lost ground against the greenback, while gold futures hovered at August lows of $US3,390 ($A5,210) an ounce.

Energy stocks also outperformed the broader market, thanks to a more than seven per cent rally in Ampol shares after it confirmed a $1.1 billion buyout of EG Group's Australian service station portfolio.

Cochlear finished the day one per cent higher to $309.03 per share, shaking off an early morning sell-off after its $392 million underlying net profit underwhelmed investors.

As local equities held tightly onto their records this week, cryptocurrency Bitcoin has slumped more than four per cent after breaching $US124,400 ($A191,150) for the first time on Thursday.

Australian companies will hand down more results in the next two weeks than any other fortnight of the year, which had the potential to move markets, Mr Daghlian said.

Sector giants such as BHP, Woodside, Goodman Group and CSL are among the names reporting to shareholders next week.

"And then you've got the US-Russia talks in Alaska as well, which will get a bit of attention if there are any surprises," he told AAP.

The Aussie dollar finished the week slightly weaker against the greenback to buy 65.07 US cents, down from 65.37 US cents on Thursday at 5pm.

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 rose 64.8 points on Friday, or 0.73 per cent, to 8,938.6

The broader All Ordinaries jumped 63 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 9,212.1

The NZX 50 added 19.85 points (0.15%) to 12909.23

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:

U.S. stocks ended mixed. The DJIA lifted 0.1% to 44,946.12, the S&P 500 dropped 0.3% to 6,449.80 and the Nasdaq slipped 0.4% to 21,622.98.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were UnitedHealth Group Inc UNH surging 12.65%, First Solar Inc FSLR jumped 10.84%, and Enphase Energy Inc ENPH lifted 7.70%.

The biggest decliners were Applied Materials Inc AMAT which dropped 14.04%, KLA Corp KLAC fell 8.51%, and Lam Research Corp LRCX lost 7.32%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.8% to 3,696.77 and the Shenzhen Composite Index climbed 1.7% to 2,300.77.

Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 1% to 25,270.07.

Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average added 1.7% to 43,378.31.

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

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished lower. The FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.4% to 9,138.90. In Europe, shares closed mixed. The Germany's DAX slipped 0.1% to 24,359.30, and the France's CAC 40 climbed 0.7% to 7,923.45