Oil prices pulled back but continue to hover around the US$90 mark. Photo / Getty Images
Keeping you up to date with the latest market moves, in association with Investment firm Jarden
New Zealand
The NZX 50 rose 0.3 per cent yesterday.
The top three performers were stocks impacted by the international border reopening, with upwards movements potentially related to last week's confirmation of reopening timelines. Sky City increased 6.2 per cent, Air New Zealand rose 4.7 per cent, and travel-booking firm Serko gained 2.9 per cent.
However, NZ tourism operators have expressed concerns about losing market share to Australia, whose international borders are set to open as soon as 21 February.
On the flip side, the bottom performer was Property for Industry, falling 3.3 per cent. Freightways declined 2.6 per cent and Goodman Property Group fell 1.8 per cent. The drops do not appear to be linked to any news or announcements from the companies.
Rio Tinto has announced they are backing the future of Tiwai Point aluminium smelter with booming global metal prices. The smelter's electricity providers, Meridian Energy and Contact Energy had been looking into green hydrogen as a replacement use of the energy consumed by Tiwai Point, which consumes one seventh of total NZ electricity generation.
Contact Energy rose 0.6 per cent yesterday and Meridian Energy gained 1.3 per cent.
Many listed New Zealand companies release results from mid-February. The market's reactions to these result releases will likely influence headline stock movements for the month.
International
US
US markets were strong this morning as the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow Jones Industrial Average are currently trading higher by 0.9, 1.3, and 1.0 per cent at the time of writing.
Sector gains include materials and financials, each leading the way with 1.2 and 1.4 per cent increases. Energy was the only sector in the red, down 2.0 per cent.
These sector gains were well supported by the single stock winners, with biotech company Amgen, along with healthcare business Zimmer Biomet Holdings, posting gains of 8.4 and 7.1 per cent respectively. As has been the market trend in February, each company's stock movements were influenced by investors reacting favourably to earnings announcements.
Amgen released fourth-quarter earnings of US$4.36 per share, while also agreeing to partake in a US$6 billion share buy back in the first quarter of 2022. Zimmer's fourth quarter diluted earnings per share came in at US$1.95, above investors' expectations.
Payment solutions provider Fiserv slumped to a 6.0 per cent loss at the time of writing, along with Pharmaceutical company Incyte Corp (-4.5 per cent), with both stocks at the mercy of seemingly underwhelming earnings releases. Rounding out the bottom performers of the day was Covid-19 vaccine producer Moderna (-4.2 per cent) after the company agreed to a supply deal with the Colombian Government.
Rest of the World
The main Asian indices were mixed overnight. Highlights include the Hang Seng trading lower by 1.0 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite and the Nikkei each made gains of 0.7 and 0.1 per cent.
Market sentiment across main Chinese stocks may have been hampered by an announcement from the U.S. Commerce Department, saying it had added 33 Chinese entities to its to a red flag export list. Biotech company Wuxi Biologics, one of the 33, fell more than 20 per cent on Tuesday.
Investment management conglomerate Softbank also had a slow trading session (-0.9 per cent) after a deal to sell one of its segments 'Arm' to technology company Nvidia looks to have fallen through due to regulatory hurdles, with Softbank now eying a public sale of the business segment as an alternative.
Commodities
In commodities this morning, gold is trading stronger by 0.4 per cent at US$1,828.5 per ounce, while yields pushed higher as the US 10-year tracks closer to the 2.0 per cent mark (1.95 per cent currently)
WTI crude oil pulled back from its recently posted seven-year high, down 1.9 per cent to be priced at US$89.50 per barrel at the time of writing. This could be linked to the resumption of talks between the United States and Iran this morning, with parties negotiating the removal of sanctions on Iranian oil, which would increase supply into world markets.
Crypto currency momentum slowed after a strong finish to last week, Bitcoin is down 2.5 per cent to US$43,014.9 and Ethereum is down 3.5 per cent to US$3,054.6.
Australia
The ASX 200 gained 1.1 per cent in Tuesday's trading session. This could be linked to optimism in the market regarding the Australian border set to open to tourists in a couple of weeks, which is likely to boost the hard-hit hospitality and travel industry in the country.
Leading the index higher was travel booking provider Webjet, rallying 7.4 per cent. Flight Centre (+6.7 per cent) and Corporate Travel Management (+4.3 per cent) also benefitted from the border reopening news.
Fund manager Magellan Financial was the second-best performer in the session, up 7.2 per cent, reversing its downward trend from the past week.
Banking, insurance, and wealth solutions provider Suncorp rose 5.5 per cent on the back of its half year 2022 earnings update yesterday.
On the flip side, linguistics services provider Appen was the biggest underperformer, decreasing 7.4 per cent.
Next in line was infection control innovator Nanosonics, declining 4.7 per cent, after news about a change in its North American sales model.
Rounding out the bottom movers was Pointsbet Holdings, down 4.2 per cent.
The Australian 10-year bond rate hit its highest level since March 2020, at over 2.1 per cent, with the market potentially expecting an interest rate hike.
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