The top-performing stock of the NZX50 yesterday was medical equipment producer, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which rose 4.2 per cent. Photo / File
Keeping you up to date with the latest market moves, in association with Investment firm Jarden
New Zealand
The NZX50 recovered some ground yesterday, up 0.4 per cent. The rise was led by the healthcare and consumer cyclicals sectors, up 2.6 and 1.0 per cent, respectively.
Meanwhile, utilities and consumer non-cyclicals were the worst-performing sectors, down 1.0 and 0.9 per cent, respectively.
The top-performing stock of the NZX50 yesterday was medical equipment producer, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which rose 4.2 per cent.
Broadband infrastructure provider Chorus was another outperformer of the session, up 2.3 per cent after being sold off over the last few weeks following negative updates around their ongoing Commerce Commission review.
The biggest underperformer of yesterday's session was film technology provider, Vista Group International, down 2.5 per cent. The recent fall in share price follows a solid three-month upward trend.
Gentailers continued to be volatile, with Meridian Energy falling 2.3 per cent. Meridian released their 3Q operating statistics earlier in the week, in which they recorded negative generation impacts from the driest period since 1992.
Tourism Holdings released a market update on performance and expectations for the 2021 financial year (ended 30 June). The expected net loss after tax has been revised to $14 - $18 million following an improved outlook for the current financial year.
Tourism Holding's net debt is not expected to exceed $90 million for FY21, while previous guidance was less confident.
USA rental demand growth is expected in 2021, while the New Zealand rental business is expected to remain loss-making under a domestic-only environment. An increase in web search activity attributed to the Trans-Tasman bubble however, is expected to convert to increased forward bookings - with search activity higher for school holidays and Queenstown.
Tourism Holding's share price increased 1.9 per cent in response to the release.
INTERNATIONAL
United States
All three major US exchanges are in the red at time of writing after new announcements around the capital gains tax proposed by President Biden. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are trading lower by 0.7 per cent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is performing slightly worse – dropping 0.8 per cent.
The new tax would impose a capital gains tax as high as 43.4 per cent for those making over US$1 million per year – more than doubling the current federal capital gains tax of 20 per cent. In states such as California and New York, which already have additional taxes in place, the new federal rate would imply a 52.2 per cent and 56.7 per cent total capital gain levy, respectively.
Some positive news may have stemmed the flow as US weekly jobless claims fell to their lowest point since the start of the pandemic. Claims fell by 39,000 to sit at 547,000, evidence of a stronger labour market and a recovering economy.
Despite all sectors losing ground, data company Equifax and recreational products distributer Pool Corp went against the grain - jumping 16.1 and 7.4 per cent, respectively. Both companies traded favourably after exceeding their first quarter earnings guidance.
Meanwhile Apple made news around the world on Wednesday after the official launch of a new product – the AirTag. The small $55 device can be attached to valuables and allows the user to track and find items if they are misplaced. The product will compete with a series of other similar devices. However, as we have come to expect with Apple, the product is only compatible with other Apple devices.
Apple currently trading in line with market, down 0.7 per cent at the time of writing to US$132.3.
Downward pressure on indices was driven from sector losses in Basic Materials (down 1.5 per cent) and Technology (down 1.0 per cent).
Meanwhile, the biggest loser at the time of writing was chemical company Dow Inc which slumped to a 5.3 per cent loss. Semiconductor manufacturer Micron Technology Inc also fell 5.3 per cent.
Rest of world
Asian indices were mixed overnight. The Shanghai Composite fell 0.2 per cent, while both the Hang Seng and Nikkei returned gains of 0.5 and 2.4 per cent, respectively.
The Nikkei rebounded after a string of consecutive losses this week. Investor selloffs in Japanese equities were primarily driven by a newly proposed state of emergency in main cities as coronavirus cases continue to rise out of control.
Commodities
Amongst the commonly tracked commodities. Gold fell 0.7 per cent to US$1,780.20 per ounce after a strong run earlier in the week.
Crypto currencies were mixed this morning, with Bitcoin falling 4.1 per cent to US$53,323.30 while Ethereum made gains of 5.1 per cent, now trading at US$2,561.21. Lastly, oil made slim gains as WTI Crude Oil traded higher at US$61.43 a barrel.
Australia
The ASX200 rose 0.8 per cent in yesterday's session, breaking a downward trend over the last two days.
The Health Care (+1.7 per cent), Information Technology (+1.5 per cent) and A-REIT (+1.4 per cent) sectors led gains while the only sectors booking losses on Thursday were Energy (-0.6 per cent) and Utilities (-0.1 per cent).
The biggest gainer of the day was datacentre group, Megaport (+9.7 per cent), after a positive third quarter results release. Next in line were engineering services provider Mondalephous Group (+5.8 per cent) and gold miner Westgold Resources (+5.7 per cent).
Coca-Cola Amatil (CCL) shares were removed from the S&P/ASX200 index due to its acquisition by Coca-Cola European Partners. CCL was replaced by Redbubble, an online marketplace for print-on-demand products. Redbubble was the biggest loser of the day however, plummeting 23.1 per cent to A$4.24.
The company released a trading update and a letter to shareholders from the CEO, indicating that EBITDA margins will suffer over the short-term to facilitate internal investments. Redbubble signalled its ambition to create the world's largest marketplace for independent artists and reach A$1.25 billion in marketplace revenue over the medium term. However, its investments to do so will mean that its earnings margin will remain in the mid-single digits for the next year.
Among the top underperformers was online retailer Kogan.com (the new owner of NZ's Mighty Ape), which decreased 3.6 per cent, while supermarket giant Woolworths added +1.5 per cent after it announced plans to launch a virtual marketplace.
Financial services provider AMP continued its downward trend, declining 3.4 per cent following the release of its first quarter cashflow and its assets under management. The Australian arm recorded an A$1.6 billion increase in managed assets, but the New Zealand side recorded losses - partly due to a large superannuation client exiting, but also because of increased competition and COVID-19 implications.
NAB published its quarterly Business Survey for the Month of March 2021, which found that business conditions and confidence improved further, now at 17 index points.
Coming up today
News flow is expected to be quiet today with very few scheduled releases in either Australia or New Zealand, as well as the long ANZAC weekend coming up.
The rest of the world, however, will have a number of data sets released. Econometrics company Markit will be releasing their manufacturing indices for the Eurozone and Japan while the UK will release its latest Retail Sales figures.
The US will also be releasing its manufacturing and composite indices overnight, as well as how many new homes were sold over March. Market consensus is currently for 886,000 new homes, or a 12 per cent increase on February's sales.
• 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>