Tensions remain high on the border between Russia and Ukraine. Photo / AP
Keeping you up to date with the latest market moves, in association with Investment firm Jarden
New Zealand
The NZX 50 was in the green yesterday, rising 1.5 per cent on the back of some strong price moves in some of New Zealand's largest listed companies.
Leading the index upwards was Fletcher Building, up 6.7 per cent. Fletcher Building reported first half 2022 earnings before interest and tax of $332 million. The interim dividend declared of 18 cents per share was up 6 cents per share on the same period last year. Financial year 2022 guidance of $750 million for earnings before interest and tax was above consensus of $715 million.
Port of Tauranga increased 5.2 per cent and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare rose 4.4 per cent, both recovering some ground.
EROAD declined 2.3 per cent, Argosy Property Group fell 2.1 per cent, and Skellerup lost 1.6 per cent.
Skellerup, The NZ Refining Company and NZX all report results today.
Vista Group International acquired the assets of US cinema software company Retriever Software for US$6.5 million. The assets include Retriever's software, intellectual property and customer relationships across more than 200 sites in the US. Vista gained 2.0 per cent yesterday.
Meridian Energy and Contact Energy have released a list of four potential partners to develop the world's first large-scale green hydrogen plant in Southland with interest from Japan, UK and Australia. Meridian rose 1.0 per cent and Contact traded flat yesterday.
International
US
The major US indices were in the red again on Thursday morning, after NATO said Russian troops were increasing rather than pulling back from the Ukrainian border, as Russia stated previously. The S&P 500 declined 0.5 per cent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 0.6 per cent lower, and the NASDAQ was down 0.9 per cent.
Energy and materials were the only two sectors in the green at the time of writing, rising 1.6 and 0.1 per cent, respectively. Leading the markets lower were the technology (-1.2 per cent) and communication services (-1.1 per cent) sectors.
On the S&P 500, Generac Holdings rallied 14.2 per cent. The generator and power equipment manufacturer released its earnings update before market open, with results beating expectations. Adjusted earnings per share were reported as US$2.51, 11 cents above estimates, driven by both commercial and residential sales rising more than 40 per cent.
Oil and gas explorer Devon Energy Corp also performed well, gaining 6.2 per cent, hitting a 52-week high.
Completing the top three performers at the time of writing was Kraft Heinz Company, rising 5.7 per cent. The global food and beverage company beat market expectations, reporting an adjusted quarterly profit of 79 cents per share, 16 cents above estimates.
On the flip side, ViacomCBS plummeted 21.2 per cent, hitting a 52-week low, making it the worst performer on the index on Thursday morning. The global media and entertainment company announced that it will now be known as Paramount Global with the goal to "advance our strategy of harnessing all our strength and breadth in building the business of tomorrow", according to a memo sent to employees on Tuesday.
Next in line was cybersecurity and cloud service company Akamai Technologies, declining 6.8 per cent despite delivering better than expected fourth quarter results and revealing its plans to acquire the infrastructure-as-a-service platform provider Linode.
Rounding out the bottom movers was online marketplace Etsy, trading 6.2 per cent lower.
Rest of the World
The major Asian indices delivered good performances overnight. The Shanghai Composite rose 0.6 per cent, the Nikkei rallied 2.2 per cent, and the Hang Seng closed 1.5 per cent higher.
China's Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.9 per cent year on year in January, which was 0.1 per cent below market expectations and well below the 1.5 per cent from December. The Producer Price Index came in at 9.1 per cent for the year, below many analysts' expectations of 9.5 per cent and down from 10.3 per cent in December 2021.
Japan is scheduled to release its CPI data this Friday.
In the United Kingdom, inflation data came in higher than expected, with a 5.5 per cent increase to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) in the 12 months to January 2022, setting a new 30-year record. This follows the December annual figure of 5.4 per cent. The Consumer Price Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) also increased, to 4.9 per cent, for the year to January 2022. Drivers behind the increase include energy, fuel, and food.
The Bank of England is expecting inflation to peak at 7.25 per cent in April, lifting its 6.0 per cent ceiling projected in December.
Commodities
Gold was trading 0.7 per cent higher at the time of writing to US$1,868.60 per ounce.
Oil rallied 2.9 per cent to US$94.70 per barrel, likely due to the reinforced tensions in the Ukraine conflict.
Cryptocurrencies were all in the red at the time of writing. Bitcoin and Ethereum each decreased 0.9 per cent.
The US 10-year treasury bond rate remained relatively unchanged, yielding 2.043 per cent this morning.
Australia
The S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.0 per cent on Wednesday, landing at 7,281 points.
Macroeconomic information included the official job vacancy report for the month of January 2022. Despite continued pressure in the wake of an Omicron outbreak, job advertisements increased 4.4 per cent, or by more than 10,000 job ads last month, leading to a total of 259,000 jobs currently being advertised as vacant in Australia.
Sector wins were largest from healthcare and real estate, each closing 5.8 and 3.0 per cent higher. In contrast, energy (-1.0 per cent) and materials (-0.7 per cent) were the laggard sectors.
Battery exploration and materials company Liontown had a significant gain of 17.6 per cent by market close, after the company signed a five-year lithium supply deal with electric car giant Tesla. The deal will see Liontown supply over 100,000 tons of lithium spodumene each year, a key material in the production of lithium-ion batteries. In second place was property group Vicinity Centres (+11.0 per cent), which traded to its 20-month high after publishing an impressive set of half year results.
Notable single stock decliners included financial services companies Netwealth and Hub24. Netwealth fell 9.8 per cent in the wake of a seemingly underwhelming half-year earnings result, with net profit of A$27 million seemingly coming in below investor expectations. Hub24 stock moved in reaction to an announcement the company had successfully completed the acquisition of valuation company Class Ltd.
• For more information on the latest market moves, get in touch with Jarden.
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