Market Announcements
Market Summary
The New Zealand sharemarket rallied on Tuesday, chasing a strong lead from the United States and erasing much of last week’s losses. The benchmark S&P/NZX 50 was up 1.52% to 12,877.04 points with 32.6 million shares changing hands, worth $105.5m. The general rally in New Zealand followed a rise in global investor sentiment, which kicked off overnight in the United States. The S&P 500 was up 1.47% by the end of the Monday trading session as the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 1.95%. By 5pm, the Australian benchmark ASX 200 had lifted 1.15%.
Global markets had been buoyed by the increasing probability of interest rate cuts in the US after weak employment figures were released last week. Market expectations are now pricing in a September rate cut.
The general rally lifted many of the index’s big names, especially those with exposure to the US market. Mainfreight picked up 2.38% and closed at $61.50. The stock lost about 10% last week after managing director Don Braid said it had been a "slow and disappointing" start to the year at the freight and logistics firm's annual meeting.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which has had a roller-coaster year, was up 3.24% to $36.94 on volumes exceeding $10m. The index’s largest constituent is still down about 3% for the year to date.
KMD Brands, which sells its Rip Curl and Oboz Footwear brands to customers in the United States, was up 6.38% to 25 cents.
Another company that does business in the US, via its Longroad Energy investment, Infratil, gained 4.16% to $11.90. Among other investments, Infratil has stakes in Longroad Energy in the US and in Canberra Data Centres (CDC) in Australia.
Travelling in the other direction was Gentrack Group, which fell 3.36% to $9.78, worsening a tough run for the stock.
Source: Business Desk
Australian Market Report
Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 11 points higher at 8777.
- close [Morningstar with AAP]: Australia's share market has posted its best-ever close as confidence around company earnings and future interest rate cuts washed out global growth concerns.
The S&P/ASX200 surged 106.7 points higher, up 1.23 per cent, to 8,770.4, while the broader All Ordinaries shot 106.8 points higher, or 1.20 per cent, to 9,028.8.
The result pipped the top-200's previous record close of 8,757.2, but finished just six points shy of its intraday best of 8,776.4 set in mid-July.
The prospect of cheaper US and Australian borrowing costs helped interest rate-sensitive sectors like financials, real estate, technology and consumer discretionary stocks lead all 11 segments higher.
On top of this, Australia's prospect as a market where investors could weather uncertainty elsewhere was likely growing, Pepperstone head of research Chris Weston said.
"We've got a very, very stable banking sector with excellent liquidity, so you're looking for a safe harbour in this kind of area, I think Australia ticks the right boxes" he told AAP.
"Now, you're not going to get a huge amount of foreign investments looking at Australia, because you do have a scarcity of incredibly liquid assets."
Tuesday's performance showed investors weren't worried about taking on risk heading into earnings season, Mr Weston said.
Consumer discretionary stocks led the gains with a 1.8 per cent surge, as Bunnings owner Wesfarmers jumped 2.83 per cent to $87.52 per share and JB Hi-Fi lifted 1.8 per cent to $115.80.
The financial sector surged 1.5 per cent as all big four banks' respective market caps sailed 1.4 per cent or more higher on a sea of green. NAB was the best performer, rallying 1.6 per cent to $38.80.
Australia's IT sector wiped out Monday's losses with a 1.3 per cent gain, tracking with an overnight rally in US tech stocks.
Hopes of cheaper borrowing costs helped real estate stocks push 1.4 per cent higher, with strong performances by Dexus, GPT Group and Charter Hall.
Miners rallied for a second straight day, as continued strength in iron ore prices helped push large caps BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue 0.4 per cent to 0.5 per cent higher.
Gold producers also pushed higher despite a slight downtick in the gold prices during the session, with Newmont Corporation (+4.1 per cent) and Ramelius Resources (+3.9 per cent) standing out.
Rare earths miner Iluka Resources was the top-200's best performer with a 8.7 per cent surge after federal resources minister Madeleine King flagged setting a price floor for the commodity group to shore up investment.
Also with some help from government was second-best performer Austal, the shipbuilder's shares pushing 7.9 per cent higher after securing billions in defence contracts and winning strategic asset designation by the federal government, which will make it a tough takeover target for overseas buyers.
The Australian dollar is buying 64.60 US cents, edging higher than 64.41 US cents on Monday at 5pm.
ON THE ASX:
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Tuesday gained 106.7 points, or 1.23 per cent, to 8,770.4
The broader All Ordinaries rose 106.8 points, or 1.20 per cent, to 9,028.8
The NZX 50 Lost -14.14 points (-0.11%) to 12862.9
Overseas Market Report
[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:
U.S. stocks ended lower. The DJIA fell 0.1% to 44,111.74, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% to 6,299.19 and the Nasdaq slipped 0.7% to 20,916.55.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Axon Enterprise Inc AXON surging 16.50%, Palantir Technologies Inc PLTR jumped 7.83%, and Leidos Holdings Inc LDOS lifted 7.48%.
The biggest decliners were Gartner Inc IT which dropped 27.55%, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc VRTX fell 20.60%, and TransDigm Group Inc TDG lost 11.94%.
Asia
Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 1% to 3,617.60 and the Shenzhen Composite Index rose 0.8% to 2,209.43.
Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 0.7% to 24,902.53.
Japanese shares ended higher. The Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.6% to 40,549.54.
India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX slipped 0.4% to 80,710.25.
Europe
Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index gained 0.2% to 9,142.73. In Europe, shares closed mixed. The Germany's DAX climbed 0.4% to 23,846.07, and the France's CAC 40 slipped 0.1% to 7,621.04
