NZX 50 ekes out gain in late rally; bank economists get less gloomy

New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index rallied late in the day to end Wednesday in positive territory, with blue-chips Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Mercury NZ and Infratil among those powering the benchmark higher.

Stock markets across Asia were broadly weaker as Brent crude oil pushed towards US$100 a barrel, with renewed fighting in the Middle East keeping investors on edge about whether another energy shock will force the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates next week.

The kiwi dollar was largely unchanged against the greenback as bank economists at ANZ New Zealand and Westpac NZ released less gloomy growth forecasts for the June quarter, with both saying the economy weathered the oil shock better than expected.

And Black Pearl Group bounced from its sharpest daily decline in more than three years as its net tangible asset value was challenged by shareholder activist Scrivener Capital.

Bubbling crude

The NZX 50 rose 26.53 points, or 0.2%, to 13,819.43, with 20 stocks gaining, 27 declining and three unchanged. The S&P/NZX 20 index futures contract for September was unchanged at 7,663, with 1,000 lots traded for a value of $7.6 million, while the NZX 20 advanced 0.3% to 7,690.83.

Turnover across the main board was $146.6 million, of which F&P Healthcare accounted for $19.1 million as it increased 0.5% to $43.93.

Stock markets across Asia were broadly softer as oil prices remained elevated, with Brent crude futures up 1.2% at $99.09/barrel at 5pm in Auckland after the US struck Iranian tankers near the hub of Kharg Island. Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.8% in late trading, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipped 0.1% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index declined 0.2%.

Still, chip stocks remained buoyant on optimism about the artificial intelligence trade as Anthropic reportedly nears filing for an initial public offering, and South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.5% in late trading.

Japan’s yen remained elevated after US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent challenged traders to test his support of the currency, having already intervened in foreign exchange markets with Japanese finance minister Satsuki Katayama. The kiwi dollar traded at 89.86 yen at 5pm in Auckland from 89.88 yen yesterday, and was at 58.57 US cents from 58.59 cents.

ANZ and Westpac economists lifted their forecasts for June quarter gross domestic product, finding pockets of growth large enough to offset the impact of increased oil prices squeezing household budgets. ANZ economists predict an expansion of 0.1% in the quarter and Westpac forecasts 0.2% growth, having both expected the economy to have shrunk in earlier forecasts.

“While hardly a blockbuster result, that’s a lot better than we hoped for in the early stages of the US-Iran conflict, when we were staring down the barrel of what could have been the biggest global energy shock in history,” Westpac NZ senior economist Michael Gordon said in a note. “Instead, the New Zealand economy has done well in shaking off the effects of this shock, helped by still-low interest rates and the ongoing strength in many of our export industries.”

Still trucking

Freightways, which is typically held out as an economic barometer, fell 0.2% to $13.15 and materials firm Fletcher Building decreased 0.3% to $3.84.

Infratil, whose biggest investment is data centre operator CDC, gained 0.8% to $14.70, while power companies were mixed as Mercury climbed 1.4% to $6.70 and Contact Energy increased 1.2% to $8.66. Genesis Energy slipped 0.7% to $2.76 and Meridian Energy fell 0.4% to $5.30.

Napier Port Holdings posted the biggest gain on the benchmark, rising 2.3% to $3.58, while Tower rose for a third day, up 1.8% at a three-and-a-half month high of $2.

Spark New Zealand was the most heavily traded stock on the day with a volume of 5.1 million shares changing hands, as the telecommunications firm increased 0.5% to $2.16.

Gentrack posted the steepest decline, falling 7.2% to $4, with software firms broadly weaker as Serko slipped 2.6% to $1.50 and Vista Group International decreased 1.1% to $2.67.

Vulcan Steel dropped 3.9% to $6.20, and SkyCity Entertainment Group declined 2.9% to 67 cents after Australian fund manager Spheria Asset Management emerged as a substantial shareholder of the casino operator, which is reportedly in play, with a 5% stake.

Outside the benchmark index, 2 Cheap Cars rose 1.9% to 82 cents, more than the 80 cents offered by controlling shareholder David Sena in a takeover bid. Sena extended the offer for another week to Sept 30.

Rua Gold advanced 2.6% to $1.55 after the would-be miner said it’s still on track to file a substantive application for fast-track consent next month, with a pre-feasibility study to be published in December.

And Black Pearl climbed 5.7% to 28 cents, unwinding some of the 20% slump on Tuesday in its heaviest trading day for more than two months. Scrivener Capital published an open letter to Black Pearl chair Tim Crown questioning the discrepancy between the company’s net tangible assets reported in the annual report and what was entered in the issuer results announcement.

Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Curious News.