NZX Flat As Vital Healthcare Announces $200m Capital Raise

The New Zealand sharemarket closed flat after being weighed down by a capital raising of more than $200 million from Vital Healthcare Property Trust. The S&P/NZX 50 Index reached an intraday low of 13,523.08 but recovered late afternoon to finish on 13,617.48, down 18.26 points or 0.13%. The property sector declined more than 1%.

Vital Healthcare told the market it had reached a conditional agreement to take back the management rights from Northwest Healthcare Property Trust. “The internalisation represents the next key step in Vital’s evolution, enhancing governance and providing a scalable platform positioned to capture the full benefit of future growth on behalf of unit holders,” the Trust said. Vital Healthcare will fund the move with a $220 million capital raise through a $190m underwritten placement and $30m unit purchase plan. Vital Healthcare was unchanged at $2.18 but it dragged the other property stocks down.

Argosy declined 1.5c to $1.245; Kiwi was down 2c or 1.83% to $1.07; Stride decreased 2c to $1.44; and Investore fell 2c to $1.25. Among other property stocks, Goodman Property Trust was down 2c to $2.07; Precinct eased 1.5c to $1.215; and Property for Industry decreased 2c to $2.49. Kiwi Property is selling an Auckland property on Mt Wellington Highway, known as Sylvia Park Lifestyle, for $90m to a new large-format retail fund established by Mackersy Property.

Global marketer a2 Milk increased 22c or 2.04% to $11.01 after announcing it has expanded its long-term arrangements with China State Farm Agribusiness Holding Shanghai Co to include English label infant milk formula (initially a2 Genesis) in the cross-border eCommerce channel. China State Farm is a state-owned enterprise and has been a2 Milk’s distribution partner since 2013. It is the exclusive import agent of the China label products into 30,000 mother and baby stores and major online platforms.

ANZ Banking Group rose $1.31 or 3.08% to $43.85 after reporting full-year net profit of A$5.89 billion ($6.8b), down 10% on the previous 2024 financial year. Operating income was A$21.9b, up 7%. ANZ said its institutional and New Zealand divisions performed consistently well, however its Australian retail and business and private Bank underperformed. Despite growth in both assets and deposits, intense competition and a falling interest rate environment impacted margins.

Fletcher Building, up 3c to $3.52, has sold its 13.4% stake in the NX2 Pūhoi to Warkworth toll road public-private partnership for $20.2m to a New Zealand-based infrastructure investor. The transaction marks the conclusion of Fletcher’s equity investment in NX2, which the company has held since 2016. Gentrack increased 27c or 3.14% to $8.88 after telling the market it is delivering a modern, cloud-based billing system to NAV CANADA. The new Veovo system will manage the calculation and invoicing of air navigation service charges for airspace users across Canadian airspace and international airspace managed by Canada.

Other gainers were Port of Tauranga adding 11c to $7.66; Delegat Group rising 17c or 4.12% to $4.30; Channel Infrastructure up 5c or 1.96% to $2.60; Millennium & Copthorne Hotels NZ increasing 8c or 2.86% to $2.88; and Sanford improving 15c or 2.48% to $6.20. In the energy sector, Meridian was up 7c to $5.89, and Mercury gained 5c to $6.55. Freightways fell 39c or 2.7% to $14.05; Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was down 38c to $38.12; and Ebos Group decreased 16c to $28.45.

Source: Business Desk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 22 points higher at 8850.

- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's share market has notched its best daily performance in three weeks amid hopes a US funding deal could end a government shutdown that has lasted 40 days.

The S&P/ASX200 rose 66.2 points on Monday, up 0.75 per cent, to 8,835.9, as the broader All Ordinaries gained 77.7 points, or 0.86 per cent, to 9,109.4.

Hopes of the US government reopening - which would restore pay to 800,000 federal workers, boost confidence and resume publication of crucial economic data - lit a match under technology stocks.

The surge extended to energy and materials stocks, particularly commodities linked to tech and artificial intelligence infrastructure: rare earths, critical minerals and uranium.

"Some of the headwinds, which were certainly buffering the market last week of have abated this morning," IG Markets analyst Tony Sycamore told AAP.

"Although I'm not so sure whether the question marks around AI are going to be washed over quite so quickly."

Australia's tech sector rallied 2.4 per cent, tracking with a strong lead for Nasdaq futures and helping WiseTech rebound more than six per cent, while Iress soared 6.6 per cent after announcing an efficiency plan to permanently boost margins.

While large-cap miners traded either side of flat as iron ore futures grinded lower, gold stocks rallied on hopes of US interest rate cuts, helping spot gold to trade at $US4,069 ($A6,233) an ounce.

Critical minerals producers were some of the top-200's best performers, with Liontown and Pilbara Minerals rocketing more than 9.5 per cent each, while Lynas Rare Earths rallied 4.8 per cent.

The energy sector gained 1.5 per cent, boosted by an uptick in oil prices on hopes the US government will reopen, and after Goldman Sachs upgraded its growth outlook for China.

Uranium plays outshone the broader sector, as Paladin, Deep Yellow and Silex surged between 7.9 and 9.6 per cent.

The heavyweight financials segment carved out a solid 0.6 per cent lift, despite two of the big four banks closing in the red.

ANZ's disappointing half-year results prompted an early morning sell-off, which was hungrily bought up by investors who then sent it rocketing 3.2 per cent higher to $39.52, a new record high.

It became the third big four bank to post disappointing financial results in under a week, which has some investors asking questions about the source of the sector's future growth.

Investment giant Macquarie had a relatively weak 0.6 per cent bounce to $205.97 after its 5.7 per cent post-earnings tumble on Friday.

Industrials stocks performed well with a 0.9 per cent boost after Qantas rebounded from its market update disappointment, and as Monadelphous soared 11 per cent on news of fresh contracts.

As for not-so-new contracts, defence technology stock Droneshield issued a return-to-home order for an announcement it had secured a $7.6 million supply deal with the US defence department, after it turned out it had already been flagged.

The defensive consumer staples segment was the weakest performer and one of only two to finish in the red, down 0.4 per cent and tracking with modest drops in Coles and Woolworths.

The Australian dollar is buying 65.27 US cents, up from 64.80 US cents on Friday at 5pm AEDT after a cautious speech from Reserve Bank deputy governor Andrew Hauser on the outlook for growth an inflation.

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 jumped 66.2 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 8,835.9

The broader All Ordinaries lost 77.7 points, or 0.86 per cent, to 9,109.4

The NZX 50 Lost -33.67 points (-0.25%) to 13583.81

Companies Holding Annual General Meeting (ASX 300):

Australian Ethical Investment Limited

Coles Group Limited

Jumbo Interactive Limited

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

Champion Iron Limited

National Australia Bank Limited

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:

U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA lifted 0.8% to 47,368.63, the S&P 500 gained 1.5% to 6,832.43 and the Nasdaq added 2.3% to 23,527.17.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Palantir Technologies Inc PLTR surging 8.80%, Western Digital Corp WDC jumped 6.94%, and Albemarle Corp ALB lifted 6.54%.

The biggest decliners were Centene Corp CNC which dropped 9.09%, Molina Healthcare Inc MOH fell 7.46%, and Humana Inc HUM lost 5.64%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.5% to 4,018.60 and the Shenzhen Composite Index added 0.4% to 2,529.44.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index climbed 1.6% to 26,649.06.

Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.3% to 50,911.76.

India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX added 0.4% to 83,535.35.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index lifted 1.1% to 9,787.15. In Europe, shares closed higher. The Germany's DAX rose 1.7% to 23,959.99, and the France's CAC 40 gained 1.3% to 8,055.51