NZX Gains 0.28% As Seven Companies Report Earnings

New Zealand’s benchmark stock index has risen on a busy day on the exchange, with seven companies filing earnings.  The S&P/NZX 50 index gained 0.28% to 13,079.50 points on Monday, with 43.4 million shares changing hands worth about $114.8m.  The index is trading up 0.09% for the year, having spent the majority of the last nine months in the red.

Of the seven stocks that reported on Monday Steel & Tube disappointed the most. Chief executive Mark Malpass said the company was starting to see early signs of recovery and expected activity to continue to improve through the 2026 financial year. The steel supplier, distributor and processor dropped 4.29% to 67 cents on volumes worth $120,000 in value traded.

The other company that filed a “well-flagged but weak result” was Michael Hill International. Shares fell 4.6% to 41.5 cents. The jewellery firm gave no guidance, though margins held flat and group sales were up thanks to the Canadian segment. In an investor call after the result, interim chief executive Andrew Lowe said the company’s Canadian division was benefiting from consumers turning their back on United States goods in response to trade tensions.

Scales Corporation - Despite having upgraded guidance recently, the number came out ahead, leading to another upgrade for full-year profit. Full-year profit guidance was upgraded from between $40m and $45m to $45m-$50m, up 12% at the midpoint. Shares gained 2.95% to $4.89.

Property for Industry shares lifted 1.53% to $2.33 after it posted earnings for the 12 months to June 30.  Net profit after tax rose to $106m, reversing a $46.1m loss a year earlier. The turnaround was driven by $70.7m in fair-value gains across its $2.17 billion portfolio, compared with losses of $90m in the prior year.

Energy distributor Vector shares were up 2.03% to $4.53 after it took a $37m impairment to reflect fewer gas connections and “significant market uncertainty” over future gas supply in its full-year result.

Elsewhere on the exchange, Heartland Group Holdings continued its rally towards $1, gaining 5.56% and finishing on 95 cents.  The stock was trading at 80 cents on Aug 19 but shot up after it reported last on Thursday.

Source: Business Desk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 19 points lower at 8930.

- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australian shares have reset their intraday record but handed back most of the day's gains.

The S&P/ASX200 finished Monday up just five points, or 0.06 per cent, to 8,972.4, as the broader All Ordinaries edged 10.7 points higher, or 0.12 per cent, to 9,245.

The top-200 hit a fresh intraday peak of 9,054.5 in early trade, but quickly reversed as buyers ran out of steam and opted to take profits instead.

While earnings season continued to offer a mixed bag of company results, forward price-to-earnings ratios were significantly higher than average, IG Markets analyst Tony Sycamore said.

"So the higher highs continue to make the market look more and more expensive," he told AAP.

"We're getting towards where I think one would probably need to be a little bit cautious just based on those valuations."

Five of 11 local sectors finished higher, with materials rallying 2.7 per cent, helped by large-cap miners, while the heavyweight financial segment slipped 1.2 per cent as funds rotated out of Australia's pricey bank stocks.

BHP rocketed 2.7 per cent to $43.14, adding more than $5 billion in value during the session, despite iron ore prices only ticking slightly higher to about $US102 a tonne.

Gold miners also rallied, with Northern Star up 2.8 per cent and Evolution Mining lifting 3.5 per cent, as the precious metal gained on hopes of a US interest rate cut in September.

The big four banks weighed heavily on the bourse, each down more than 1.4 per cent and CBA hovering just above $170 per share.

Energy stocks performed well, the sector up 1.1 per cent and tracking with gains in larger players Whitehaven and Santos, but uranium miners outperformed with Paladin and Deep Yellow jumping more than five per cent.

The industrials sector sold off 0.6 per cent as plumbing supplies giant Reece tanked more than 16 per cent to $11.76 after its full-year net profit fell 20 per cent to $317 million.

It was the top-200's worst performer.

At the top of the table was Megaport (+13.2 per cent) and Ansell, which jumped more than ten per cent after it took off the gloves to deliver a 20 per cent annual underlying earnings boost.

Consumer discretionary and staples stocks were under continued pressure, slipping 0.9 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively, with market leaders Woolworths, Coles and Wesfarmers all selling off.

All three will post full-year results later this week, kicking off with Coles on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release its monthly consumer price index indicator, for which analysts are tipping an uptick to 2.3 per cent in July, up from 1.9 per cent in June.

"That's a decent push higher," Mr Sycamore told AAP.

"Keeping in mind that the RBA didn't want to raise rates in July because of the monthly CPI indicator being a little bit warmer in some of those areas, so that's something we need to be mindful of."

The Australian dollar is buying 65.01 US cents, up from 64.19 US cents on Friday at 5pm, after the greenback slumped on higher expectations of incoming interest rate cuts in the United States.

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 gained five points on Monday, or 0.06 per cent, to 8,972.4

The broader All Ordinaries lost 10.7 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 9,245

The NZX 50 Lost -18.55 points (-0.14%) to 13060.95

Companies Holding Annual General Meeting (ASX 300):

WEB Travel Group Limited

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

AGL Energy Limited

Bega Cheese Limited

Challenger Limited

Deterra Royalties Limited

HMC Capital Limited

Redox Limited

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:

U.S. stocks ended lower. The DJIA fell 0.8% to 45,282.47, the S&P 500 dropped 0.4% to 6,439.32 and the Nasdaq fell 0.2% to 21,449.29.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Deckers Outdoor Corp DECK surging 3.62%, Wynn Resorts Ltd WYNN jumped 3.55%, and APA Corp APA lifted 3.37%.

The biggest decliners were Keurig Dr Pepper Inc KDP which dropped 11.30%, DexCom Inc DXCM fell 7.40%, and Moderna Inc MRNA lost 6.18%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index added 1.5% to 3,883.56 and the Shenzhen Composite Index climbed 1.8% to 2,436.32.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 1.9% to 25,829.91.

Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average climbed 0.4% to 42,807.82.

India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX lifted 0.4% to 81,635.91.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index added 0.1% to 9,321.40. In Europe, shares closed lower. The Germany's DAX fell 0.4% to 24,273.12, and the France's CAC 40 slipped 1.6% to 7,843.04