Market Announcements
Market Summary
The New Zealand sharemarket was flat yesterday for the second day running after the Reserve Bank of Australia, as expected, lifted its cash rate target by 25 basis points. The S&P/NZX 50 Index reached an intraday high of 13,514.78 at midday but began falling after that and closed at 13,421.52, up 9.07 points or 0.07% with a small turnaround in the end-of-day matching session. There were 77 gainers and 63 decliners on the main board with 39.88 million shares worth $161.92m changing hands.
Market leader Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, rising $1.07 or 2.77% to $39.75, led the trading list with turnover of $31.42m worth of shares.
Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index slipped from a gain of 1.12% to 0.79% when the Reserve Bank announced an increase in the cash rate to 3.85%, from 3.6%. New Zealand’s official cash rate is 2.25%. At 6pm NZ time, the ASX index recovered to 8870.7 points, up 1.05% after falling 1.3% the day before. The Reserve Bank of Australia said inflationary pressures picked up materially in the second half of last year (to 3.8%), and inflation is likely to remain above the target (of 2-3%) for some time. It is evident that private demand, both household spending and investment, is growing more quickly than expected, capacity pressures are greater than previously assessed and labour market conditions are a little tight, the central bank said. “Uncertainty in the global economy remains significant but so far there has been little or no depressing effect on the Australian economy; indeed, recent growth and trade in Australia’s major trading partners have surprised on the upside.”
At home, energy stocks Contact was down 17c or 1.79% to $9.31, Mercury decreased 10c to $6.30, and Meridian eased 4c to $5.62. Auckland International Airport dropped 11c to $8.28; Mainfreight shed $1.35 or 2.03% to $65.15; Summerset was down 21c or 1.79% to $11.49; and Ebos Group declined 39c to $25.49. Freightways decreased 25c or 1.75% to $14.10; Tourism Holdings declined 7c or 2.79% to $2.44; and NZX was down 4c or 3.07% to $1.42.
Briscoe Group increased 16c or 3.25% to $5.08 after reporting record fourth quarter sales, to January 25, of $256.6m, up 4.58%, with homeware increasing 3.45% and sporting goods rising 6.46%. It was also another record full-year with sales of $798.8m, up 0.93%. Homeware was up 1.42% and sporting goods 0.13% while online sales represented 20.04% of the revenue compared with 19.69% in the previous year. Briscoe is expecting full-year net profit of $59m-$60m compared with $60.63m in the previous year.
Fellow retailer Hallenstein Glasson was up 10c to $9.98. Heartland Group was up 3c or 2.48% to $1.24; a2 Milk added 24c or 2.43% to $10.12; Gentrack improved 11c to $7.40; Blackpearl Group gained a further 4c or 3.45% to $1.20; and NZ King Salmon Investments collected 1.5c or 7.32% to 22c.
Ryman Healthcare was down 2c to $2.77 after detailing its refreshed strategy to the market that includes targeting $150m cash flow improvement by the 2029 financial year. The retirement village operator with a property portfolio of $12 billion said a strong release of $500m is expected by 2029 through new and paid-out resale stock and at least $200m from land divestment. Ryman is targeting a return to dividends in the 2028 financial year with a payout policy of 20-50% of cash flow. Private Land and Property Fund, up 0.008c to $1.29, told the market it has had a net reduction of $770,000 in the value of its portfolio, representing a 0.437% decrease in the net asset value to $1.288, from $1.293 a unit. The assets include three avocado and one kiwifruit orchard.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 2 points higher at 8861.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Resurgent performances from miners and banks have lifted the Australian bourse higher, but a monetary policy pivot could pave a bumpy road ahead for investors.
The S&P/ASX200 rose 78.5 points on Tuesday, up 0.89 per cent, to 8,857.1, as the broader All Ordinaries advanced 80.5 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 9,149.3.
The top-200 rose more than 117 points in early trade after a solid lead from Wall Street, before dipping sharply following the Reserve Bank's widely expected cash rate increase to 3.85 per cent.
"It's kind of a stark reminder, too, that the economic backdrop here is not as friendly to investors as perhaps they might wish it to be" Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda told AAP.
The index crept higher in the last half hour of trading, as RBA governor Michele Bullock flagged future decisions would be data-dependent, noting some of recent drivers in inflation upticks may have been temporary.
A 1.5 per cent boost to basic materials stocks came as precious metals and gold miners stabilised after a sharp sell-off in the previous two sessions.
"We've seen global markets hit by a bit of de-leveraging because of the spillover effects of the precious metal sell off," Mr Rodda said.
"We've rebounded, and things are starting to stabilise a little bit again, but the kind of moves that we saw on Friday and yesterday don't really settle down overnight."
Spot gold rose 3.6 per cent during the session to $US4,825 ($A6,880) an ounce, down from a record $US5,595 an ounce on Thursday.
Denver-headquartered gold producer Newmont was the top-200's third-best performer, up 5.6 per cent despite facing a class action relating to its Cadia goldmine in central west NSW over the alleged contamination more than 2,000 properties.
Elsewhere in the sector, iron ore giants provided support, with BHP and Rio Tinto up more than 1.4 per cent each, while mixed miners, copper producers and battery minerals plays also made gains.
Rare earths stocks rose on tailwinds from across the Pacific after the Trump administration announced plans for critical minerals reserve, easing recent fears the US would walk away from price floors for rare earths projects.
The heavyweight financials sector charged 0.8 per cent higher with help from strong performances from Commonwealth and Westpac shares, with both up more than one per cent, even as CBA flagged a $68 million provision impacting its its first half financial report due on February 11.
Energy stocks rose 0.5 per cent, with oil prices edging lower as India struck a deal with the US, promising to stop buying Russian oil in return for tariff relief.
Coal producers were broadly higher, while uranium stocks were mixed.
In company news, Qantas shares crept 0.3 per cent higher to $10.20, as it flagged a deal to sell its remaining minority stake in Jetstar Japan to transition ownership to a Japanese capital-led ownership structure.
Droneshield outperformed the top-200, bouncing 7.8 per cent from a sharp sell-off at the end of January, while Neuren Pharmaceuticals fell almost 10 per cent to the other end of the table after stumbling on an EU regulatory hurdle.
Shares in debt collection and lending company Credit Corp tanked more than 16 per cent despite posting a flat interim profit, as earnings from its Australian and New Zealand business slipped.
The Australian dollar is buying 70.07 US cents, up from 69.39 US cents and spiking on the back of the RBA decision.
ON THE ASX:
The S&P/ASX200 gained 78.5 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 8,857.1
The broader All Ordinaries fell 80.5 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 9,149.3
The NZX 50 Lost -29.48 points (-0.22%) to 13392.04
Companies Holding Annual General Meeting (ASX 300):
Nufarm Limited
Companies commencing Ex-Dividend Trading Today (ASX 300):
Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended lower. The DJIA slipped 0.3% to 49,240.99, the S&P 500 declined 0.8% to 6,917.81 and the Nasdaq fell 1.4% to 23,255.18.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were DaVita Inc DVA surging 21.10%, Teradyne Inc TER jumped 13.51%, and The AES Corp AES lifted 9.17%.
The biggest decliners were Gartner Inc IT which dropped 21.51%, PayPal Holdings Inc PYPL fell 20.03%, and CoStar Group Inc CSGP lost 15.43%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.3% to 4,067.74 and the Shenzhen Composite Index lifted 2.3% to 2,676.84.
Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 0.2% to 26,834.77.
Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average lifted 3.9% to 54,720.66.
India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX rose 2.5% to 83,739.13.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished lower. The FTSE 100 Index declined 0.3% to 10,314.59. In Europe, shares closed mixed. The Germany's DAX fell 0.1% to 24,780.79, and the France's CAC 40 was unchanged at 8,179.50
