The stock exchange operator NZX came in for some cloudy weather at its annual meeting in Christchurch, where it was challenged to pick up the phone more to possible listing candidates.
Meanwhile, the S&P/NZX 50 index strode into May, climbing 2.1% with commercial landlords Stride Property Group, Kiwi Property Group, Investore Property and Property for Industry leading the charge, after some heavy trading in the property stocks through the tail-end of April.
The kiwi dollar rallied against the Japanese yen after the Bank of Japan kept its key interest rate unchanged as the world continues to digest the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariff regime.
Meanwhile, US futures are pointing to an upbeat start for Wall Street tonight after Meta Platforms and Microsoft delivered better than expected earnings, while the Wall Street Journal reported that Tesla’s board has considered finding a successor for its totemic chief executive Elon Musk.
May we have some more?
The NZX50 outperformed most of Asia today, climbing 245.29 points to 12,1487.6, with 40 stocks gaining, five declining and five unchanged. Turnover across the main board was $153.9 million.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.2% in late trading, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index climbed 1% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.5%. S&P 500 futures were up 1% at 5pm in Auckland.
“After being very placid until midday, things are doing quite well in the afternoon,” said Peter McIntyre, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners.
Property stocks led the local market higher, with Stride climbing 5.5% to $1.16, while Kiwi Property gained 4.9% to 86.5 cents, Investore rose 3.9% to $1.06 and PFI advanced 3.9% to $2.14.
“As we come into earnings season, we may see a lot of fiddling around by fund managers and investors taking positions in stocks based on what may potentially happen in earnings,” McIntyre said.
Utilities were also among the day’s bigger gainers, with Mercury NZ increasing 3.4% to $5.77, Contact Energy rising 3.3% to $9.15 and Meridian Energy up 2.7% at $2.74.
NZX rose 2% to $1.57 after holding its annual meeting, where the board and management team were challenged by a shareholder to lift their game in chasing new listings.
Oceania Healthcare posted the biggest decline on the NZX50, falling 3.1% to 63 cents, while Summerset Group Holdings slipped 0.7% to $10.70.
SkyCity Entertainment Group was the most heavily traded company on a volume of 6.9 million shares, ending the day unchanged at $1.15.
A very hungry caterpillar
Infratil advanced 3.5% to $10.92, joining the rally among Australian data centres operators after Meta and Microsoft both suggested expanding their investment in the artificial intelligence infrastructure, when reporting better than expected earnings.
Spark New Zealand rose 1.2% to $2.105 after reiterating its statement last year that it would look for a capital partner to help fund its aspirations to grow its data centre business. The Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column today reported Spark had hired Jarden to sell half of the business.
Rakon fell 3.6% to 54 cents, unwinding some of its recent gains, after BusinessDesk reported a potential $390 million takeover bid fell through last year due to fears about its compliance with US technology export controls. The high-tech components maker this week said it dropped a Chinese customer.
The kiwi dollar rose to 85.49 yen at 5pm in Auckland from 84.56 yen yesterday after the Bank of Japan kept the overnight call rate at 0.5% and lowered its expectations for economic growth as policymakers assess the impact of the tariff regime.
The kiwi traded at 59.42 US cents from 59.33 cents yesterday.
Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Chris Liverani on Unsplash.
