Russia has launched an attack on Ukraine. Photo / Supplied
Keeping you up to date with the latest market moves, in association with Investment firm Jarden
New Zealand
The NZX 50 closed 3.3 per cent lower yesterday. Shortly before close, Russia invaded Ukraine. The macroeconomic uncertainty that this brought likely drove the extent of the NZX 50 decline. All but one company of the NZX 50 ended the day in the red.
Vital Healthcare Property Trust increased 1.0 per cent, releasing its second half financial year 2022 results. The result was largely in line with expectations, with net property income up 6.7 per cent on the prior comparable period.
SKY Network Television led the declines, down 7.4 per cent after the release of its second half financial year 2022 results. This followed a 9.8 per cent rise on Wednesday. The result had earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation down 26.7 per cent on the prior comparable period and reiterated that SKY is on track to achieve results in line with recently upgraded guidance for the full financial year. SKY announced a return to paying dividends from financial year 2022 following a return to sustainable free cash flows.
Mercury Energy fell 7.3 per cent, reporting its interim result earlier in the week.
Tourism management software company Serko lost 7.3 per cent on no news, likely connected to the uncertain tourism environment.
Today will likely be an interesting day in financial markets, with all eyes on the evolving Russia/Ukraine situation.
The 2021 Household Economic Survey showed that average annual household income (gross) increased 4.5 per cent and average annual household equivalised disposable income (after tax and transfer payments) increased 5.1 per cent, while average weekly housing costs increased 2.5 per cent. Total mortgage payments were unchanged. For those paying rent, the average weekly spend on rent increased 5.4 per cent.
International
US
The major US indices were trading in the red on Friday morning, in line with most indices around the globe after Russia's invasion into Ukraine. The S&P 500 decreased 1.4 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.2 per cent. The NASDAQ declined 0.6 per cent, a slight recovery after initially dropping about 3.0 per cent at market open.
All sectors were underperforming with financials and consumer staples booking the biggest losses, down 3.7 and 2.9 per cent, respectively, closely followed by materials, decreasing 2.3 per cent.
Biotechnology company Moderna was the single stock best performer on the S&P 500 at the time of writing. The vaccine producer rose 9.4 per cent after reporting better than expected fourth quarter results. Adjusted earnings per share came in at US$11.29 per share on US$7.2 billion of revenue versus analysts' expectations of US$9.90 per share on US$6.78 billion of revenue.
Next in line was Quanta Services, gaining 9.0 per cent. The infrastructure services provider for industrial and communications industries also reported better than expected quarterly results, despite a decrease versus the same period last year. The company's revenue rose 34.7 per cent to US$3.92 billion, while adjusted earnings per share came in at US$1.54 versus estimates of US$1.41 per share.
Joining the leader board was SolarEdge Technologies, up 8.8 per cent. The solar photovoltaic system solutions provider was recovering losses made earlier this week.
Leading the index lower at the time of writing was Epam Systems, dropping 13.5 per cent. The software product development provider continued its significant downward trend, which started at the end of 2021.
Booking Holdings also underperformed, declining 10.0 per cent. The travel and restaurants online booking service warned of the continuing possibility of periods of adverse impact from the Covid pandemic on travel demand this year. Investors seemed to react to that negative outlook despite the company reporting better than expected quarterly earnings of US$15.83 per share (adjusted), above consensus estimates of US$13.64 per share.
Rounding out the bottom movers was NetApp, trading 7.6 per cent lower. The cloud-led, data-centric software company announced that it has acquired an innovative CloudOps automation technology company, Fylamynt, to optimise its current offering. No financial details of the deal were disclosed.
In other news, US fourth quarter GDP growth was raised to 7.0 per cent, while weekly jobless claims dropped by 17,000 and continuing claims decreased by 112,000.
Rest of the World
Asian markets were all facing a down day, closing well in the red overnight. The Shanghai Composite declined 1.7 per cent, the Nikkei decreased 1.8 per cent, and the Hang Seng dropped 3.2 per cent.
Commodities
With investors looking for a safe haven, gold edged slightly higher increasing 0.8 per cent to US$1,925.40 per ounce.
Oil traded 4.2 per cent higher, after initially jumping about 8.0 per cent after the news about the invasion came out. At the time of writing, it was trading at US$95.90 per barrel.
Cryptocurrencies took a dive across the board. Bitcoin decreased 4.8 per cent and Ethereum was down 7.2 per cent.
The US 10-year bond rate edged slightly lower, yielding 1.93 per cent on Friday morning.
Australia
Australian equities fell with other world markets, as Russia's invasion of the Ukraine sent many investors into panic. The ASX 200 finished down 3.0 per cent to 6,988.1 points.
All sectors were lower at the close. Technology and materials were the biggest decliners, down 6.5 and 4.7 per cent each.
Leading the market was multinational infrastructure company CIMIC Group, which jumped more than 33 per cent by the close after announcing it had received an off-market takeover bid from German construction company Hochtief. If successful, the A$1.5 billion takeover bid would take Hochtief's ownership to a majority of the A$6.8 billion company and would lead to CIMIC being taken off the ASX. Hochtief is majority owned by Spanish construction giant Grupo ACS. .
Other notable single stock winners included Perseus Mining (+13.2 per cent) and Northern Star Resources (+4.9 per cent).
Downward movements were both relating to earnings releases. Technology company Life360 Inc fell 29.8 per cent to finish as the days largest underperformer after posting a loss for the fiscal year 2021, while providing no specific guidance for 2022. Similarly, machine learning SaaS Appen crashed 28.0 per cent after it missed its full year guidance, in part due to Apple's iOS privacy laws affecting its biggest customers.
Other news included Eagers Automotive, down 5.6 per cent, despite striking a five-year deal with Chinese EV maker BYD, which claims to be a key competitor to Tesla. Eagers is taking a 49 per cent non-controlling stake in a joint venture with BYD, with EVs to start selling in the Australian market in July.
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Disclaimer: The Jarden Brief is provided for general information purposes only. It reflects views and research available 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. The Jarden 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 financial advice disclosure statement is available free of charge at https://www.jarden.co.nz/our-services/wealth-management/financial-advice-provider-disclosure-statement/ Full disclaimer available at: https://www.jarden.co.nz/wealth-sales-and-research-disclaimer
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