NZX 50 hits record as tech stocks shrug off Nvidia woes; oil slides

New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index climbed to a new record as Infratil and Meridian Energy powered gains on the local market, joining a global rally as falling oil prices overshadowed Nvidia’s internal ructions.

The kiwi dollar extended its gains against its major trading partners as Reserve Bank chief economist Paul Conway said he felt inflation remained too high in explaining why he backed a rate hike last month, but that he had no problem surprising markets.

Local favourite Rocket Lab declined in after-hours trading in the US even after the Kiwi-founded space company’s quarterly revenue beat expectations, while Anthropic sent out and retracted a filing that indicating the Claude developer planned to raise as much as US$69.3 billion in its initial public offering.  

And Vital Healthcare Property Trust advanced after the health property investor revived plans for a secondary listing on the ASX.

Flying high

The NZX 50 climbed 193.79 points, or 1.4%, to 14,167.41, with 35 stocks gaining, 12 falling and three unchanged. The S&P/NZX 20 index futures contract for December rose 1.3% to 7,780, with 371 lots traded for a value of $2.9 million, while the NZX 20 gained 1.6% to 7,799.9.

Turnover across the main board was $131.6 million, of which Fisher & Paykel Healthcare accounted for $25.1 million as the country’s biggest listed company advanced 1.2% to $48.54.

Stock markets across Asia gained as oil prices extended their decline, with Brent crude oil futures down 0.9% at US$91.73 a barrel at 5pm in Auckland.

Tech companies shook off the 4.3% slide for Nvidia after the chipmaker’s board launched an investigation into reports that chief executive Jensen Huang had been targeted by Chinese spying, while Anthropic released and quickly recalled an email on the pricing of its IPO, showing it planned to raise as much as US$69.3 billion.

“If you think about how much Nvidia makes up of the US bourse, the strength of US markets overnight was a very strong session,” said Jeremy Sullivan, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners.

South Korea’s Kospi jumped 3.3% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was up 2.2% in late trading, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index advanced 1.3%.

Infratil joined gains among Australian data centre investors NextDC and DigiCo Infrastructure real estate Investment trust, with the NZX heavyweight up 3.1% at $13.48.

“Given their size on the stock market, that’s having a large impact on the market,” Craigs’ Sullivan said, referring to Infratil.

Meridian was another major tailwind, gaining 2.3% to $5.78, while Auckland International Airport advanced 1.4% to $8.99.

Healthy gains

Ebos Group posted the biggest gain on the NZX 50, up 3.3% at $21.70, while Fletcher Building rose 2.8% to $3.73.

The a2 Milk Co climbed 3% to $9.02, touching a four-month high during the day, after Chinese imports grew at a faster pace than exports. Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund units increased 0.8% to $9.30.

Freightways advanced 1.2% to $12.71 after ANZ’s monthly truckometer gauge showed light traffic activity nudged up 0.2% in October, though was still down 1.7% from a year earlier. The heavy traffic gauge slipped 0.4% in the month, and was up 0.5% for the year.

Mainfreight, which reports its first-half result on Thursday, rose 0.5% to $67.35. Move Logistics gained 6.1% to 19.2 cents.

Vital Healthcare rose 1.7% to $1.83 after the hospital landlord announced plans for a secondary listing on the ASX without splitting into separate trans-Tasman entities, unlike previous attempts. Chair Graham Stuart told unitholders the current portfolio valuation and market capitalisation were well below the replacement cost.

Vista Group International posted the steepest decline on the NZX 50, falling 2.6% to $2.63 after Paramount Skydance announced plans to cut US$6 billion in annual costs after its merger with Warner Bros Discovery, and warned poor results from its Warner Bros studio arm could knock fourth-quarter profit.

Serko dropped 2.4% to $1.24, while Napier Port slipped 1.7% to $3.49.

Outside the benchmark index, Tāiko Critical Minerals jumped 16% to 29.5 cents, and was up 40% over the past three sessions after the draft approval on its fast-track consent application for its West Coast project.

The kiwi dollar rose to 56.34 US cents at 5pm from 55.85 cents yesterday and gained to 81.42 Australian cents from 81.05 cents after the RBNZ’s Conway said he saw long-term inflation expectations tracking ahead of the central bank’s 2% target midpoint. He told the UBS Australasia conference in Sydney that inflation remained too high, which was why he was in the minority backing a rate hike last month, but that he had no issue wrong-footing market pricing.

And Rocket Lab gave back earlier gains as it fell 6.6% to US$54.99 in after-hours trading in the US, even after its record quarterly sales of US$268 million beat analysts’ forecasts.

Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Curious News.