Leading sectors comprised of both Financials and Healthcare, making gains of 2.12 and 1.5 per cent, respectively.
Property company Arvida Group led the way with a strong performance, up 4.1 per cent at the close to continue this month's positive trading momentum. Similarly, Pushpay Holdings Ltd traded up 2.3 per cent.
On the flip side, Industrials (down 0.9 per cent) and Utilities (unchanged) were the laggard sectors at yesterday's close.
Weighing down index performance was single stock loser Trustpower Ltd which traded unfavourably (down 4.3 per cent) in the wake of Monday's developments after the company sold off part of its retail electricity business to Mercury Energy.
Lastly, Port of Tauranga, New Zealand's largest, port slipped 2.6 per cent with limited news flow.
INTERNATIONAL:
US:
The US markets were in the green overnight.
The S&P 500 was up 0.4, the Nasdaq up 0.5 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1 per cent.
This optimism comes as Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell speaks to the Congressional Select Subcommittee on Covid-19 today.
Consumer Discretionary and Communication Services led the sector gains at the time of writing, up 1.2 and 0.5 per cent, respectively.
The most underperforming sectors were Utilities and Real Estate, down 0.5 and 0.1 per cent, respectively.
Retail business operator L Brands was the top performer, up 5.1 per cent. It rose on the news that lingerie retailer Victoria Secret has borrowed US$500 million to finance a split from Bath & Body Works. Parent company L Brands announced the separation of the two companies last month.
Online marketplace Esty rose 4.2 per cent, continuing a strong month as a company with high growth.
At the time of writing Iron Mountain had fallen 2.6 per cent, losing some of the gains made earlier in the week.
Another underperformer was Biogen which fell 2.4 per cent, coming off gains made earlier in the month. This biopharmaceutical company's share price shot up when it received approval earlier in the month from the Food and Drug Administration on its Alzheimer's drug, the first company to receive this for Alzheimer's in the US.
The White House chief medical advisor has declared the delta Covid-19 variant, which originated from India, the "greatest threat" to the US eliminating Covid-19. 20 per cent of new cases in the US are now of this strain, up from 10 per cent two weeks ago. This brings Covid-19 concerns back to the forefront for investors and may create volatility if sustained outbreaks occur.
Rest of the World Markets:
The Shanghai Composite rose 0.8 per cent, the Hang Seng fell 0.6 per cent and the Nikkei rose 3.1 per cent. This strong performance in the Japanese market overnight is a recovery from the previous trading day which saw Japanese stocks slip more than 3.0 per cent.
Commodities:
Gold fell 0.3 per cent to US$1,777.80 per ounce.
Cryptocurrency was volatile again overnight. Notably, Bitcoin fell 0.2 per cent and Ethereum fell 1.7 per cent. The price of Bitcoin briefly fell below US$30,000 before recovering. This is the first time Bitcoin has been sub-US$30,000 since January.
The US-10 year bond currently yields 1.478 per cent.
The oil price pulled back from earlier highs, down 0.6 per cent and trading at US$73.02.
Australian Markets:
The ASX 200 added 1.5 per cent yesterday following a strong US rally on Monday night. Energy (+2.2 per cent) stocks, real estate (+2.0 per cent) and materials were the strongest performers.
All but one of the real estate stocks in the ASX 200 rose with Charter Hall group (+3.8 per cent), Stockland (+3.0 per cent) and Vicinity Centres (+2.8 per cent) leading the way. Meanwhile, Cromwell Property Group dipped 0.6 per cent as the only declined.
Nuix continued to struggle, touching its record low closing price during the day and ending 0.8 per cent lower at A$2.62. Meanwhile, gaming provider Pointsbet surged +6.5 per cent following a poor performance on Monday.
Engineering services company MacMahon dropped -2.8 per cent despite announcing it had finalised its contract for the Red 5 King of the Hills mining project, a deal which is expected to contribute around A$650 million to the company over the next 5 years.
The mining sector continued to be volatile, with most stocks in the sector ending in the black despite media reports that industry giants have begun lobbying the Morrison government to allow 30,000 overseas workers to fill the current labour gap.
IGO Ltd (+6.2 per cent), Silver Lake (+4.0 per cent) and Iluka (+4.0 per cent) were the best performers of the sector, while Perenti (-1.5 per cent) continued to struggle due to its labour woes.
Meanwhile, Monadelphous has announced new contract wins totalling A$215 million at BHP's Olympic Dam copper mine, as well as in iron ore and Chilean copper.
• For more information on the latest market moves, get in touch with Jarden.
Disclaimer: This Morning Brief has been prepared in good faith and reflects opinions and views at the time of publication, using external sources, systems and other data and information we believe to be accurate, complete and reliable at the time of preparation. We make no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, correctness and completeness of that information, and will not be liable or responsible for any error or omission. This Morning Brief is not to be relied upon as a basis for making any investment decision. Please seek specific investment advice before making any investment decision. Jarden Securities Limited is an NZX Firm, a broker disclosure statement is available free of charge at www.jarden.co.nz. Jarden is not a registered bank in New Zealand. Full disclaimer available at: https://www.jarden.co.nz/limitations-and-disclaimera>
