Investor anger is growing after Rio Tinto damaged important geological sites in Australia. Photo / Getty Images
Keeping you up to date with the latest market moves, in association with Investment firm Jarden
NZX market wrap
The NZX 50 finished up 0.6 per cent, with Mercury (+4.8 per cent), Goodman Property (+3.5 per cent) and Ryman (+2.9 per cent) leading the market up. Heavy volumes in SkyCity Entertainment also continued to drive the stock slowly up, with its share price closing a cent shy of $3.
Asset Plus Limited announced it will be raising $60 million to fund developments at a property in Albany, to be leased to Auckland Council. The capital raise was priced at $0.30 per share, which represents a 17.8 per cent discount to the stock's last close price. Jarden is acting as sole lead manager and underwriter for this transaction.
Cervical screening specialist Truscreen held its annual shareholder's meeting yesterday, highlighting year-to-date sales to August have improved by 69 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Sanford surprised many with the sudden resignation of its CEO Volker Kuntzsch,
who has led the company for seven years. Of note was the seemingly short notice period of just six business days, with Kuntzsch's last day set to be September 18. Andre Gargiulo will act as interim chief executive while an international search for a replacement takes place.
Sky TV stock price grounded
Initial reaction to Sky's annual result seemed to be positive, with the stock price rising sharply to 17.5 cents. However, a delayed sell-off quickly drove the stock price down to a trough of 15 cents - a -14.3 per cent drop. Sky TV represented 42 per cent of all volume traded.
Sky's annual report posted adjusted profit of $41 million and ebitda of $192.4 million. Taking into account impairment charges and other one-off events, the bottom line was
a loss of $156.8 million.
Sky TV was more optimistic about its outlook for the current financial year compared to prior guidance, upgrading its expected ebitda range to $125 million to $140 million. However, this is still a decline on this year's results.
Chinese markets continued to decline today as the Shanghai index was down 0.6 per cent and the Shenzhen market 0.9 per cent. For the week to date, the Shanghai market is down 3.9 per cent, and the Shenzhen is down 6.6 per cent.
In the US all markets began positively on the day but began to falter early on, potentially after the announcement of the Democrats blocking the Republican relief bill or of jobless claims increasing.
A rapid sell-off began in the afternoon session, with tech stocks at the forefront once again. At the time of writing, the Dow Jones was down 1.6 per cent, S&P 500 1.9 per cent and the Nasdaq 2.3 per cent after previously outperforming the other two indices.
All sectors are back in the red today, demonstrating the volatility arising day-by-day. Materials was the outperformer, only declining 0.9 per cent. Energy continued to underperform on days the market was down, declining a further 3.4 per cent, and tech declined 2.5 per cent. The Vix was down initially despite the decline pre-midday but has since increased 4.5 per cent after the rapid sell-off in the afternoon, to be above 30 once again.
The Democrat Party voted 52-47 in favour of the estimated US$600 billion relief package introduced by the Republicans, which is short of the 60 votes required to advance the legislation. The package was significantly lower than the US$2.2 trillion that the Democrats wanted. This comes after the initial jobless claims disappointed, coming in at 884,000, above the 850,000 estimated. Continuing jobless claims remained above 13.7m. Democrats believe that with a faltering labour market, more relief will be needed to ensure the recovery of the American economy and thus will not agree to any low amount set by the Republicans.
The European re-emergence of Covid-19 continues with the Union now having more new cases than the US, recording more than 27,000 new cases and 252 deaths in the past day. This news, along with the UK and EU failing to come to an agreement, sent all European markets down for the day.
Jane Fraser has been announced as the new CEO of Citigroup Inc, becoming the first woman atop a major Wall Street bank. This will take effect after Mike Corbat retires in February.
WTI Oil prices continued to decline with Covid-19 cases still at high levels across the globe, indicating lower demand to persist as supply is greater than demand. At the time of writing, oil was down 2.6 per cent to US$37 a barrel. Gold remained relatively stable, flat for the day at US$1955 per ounce. The late drop-off in equities also sent US 10-year treasury yield back below 0.70 per cent.
ASX market wrap
The ASX 200 finished the day up 0.5 per cent. All peer indices were up with smaller stocks outperforming. The Midcap 50 Index and the Small Ordinaries Index were respectively up 1.3 and 1.0 per cent.
All sectors were up on the day. Technology was the best performing sector, rising 1.1 per cent, followed by industrials, lifting 1.0 per cent.
The best individual performer was Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals, gaining 9.2 per cent. The rise followed Clinuvel's announcement that its drug Scenesse is entering a development programme to assess its ability to regenerate DNA of skin exposed to ultraviolet light.
Some gold-exposed stocks were also among the top performers as gold rose overnight Wednesday. Gold Road Resources rose 6.2 per cent, Saracen Mineral Holdings was up 4.6 per cent, Silver Lake Resources gained 4.5 per cent and Perseus Mining rose 3.8 per cent.
On the other hand, gold miner Resolute Mining was the worst stock in the market, down 6.1 per cent. This fall follows an announcement that the company has received notice of an impending strike from the Union Nationale des Travailleurs du Mali. This follows the Malian coup on August 18, sparking a run on bad news for the region and the miners operating there.
In other news, calls for executive resignations are growing after Rio damaged an Aboriginal site in Juuken Gorge. Australia's sovereign wealth fund, the Future Fund, is one of those speaking up. The fund manages more than A$166 billion in assets and holds Rio among its 25 largest positions. If investor demands are not met, the stock may have significant selloffs. This episode demonstrates the growing power of ESG investing.
International
Economic news out tomorrow in the US includes the Consumer Price Index along with the Core Consumer Price Index, the Federal Budget is also announced. The inflation rate is of key interest after the Fed announced a few weeks ago that they will update their policy targets, allowing for inflation to go above 2 per cent.
Peleton Inc will announce earnings after close today, with many analysts and investors eager to see if the company has continued to flourish under the pandemic. With gyms unable to be open around many parts of the country, this stock has continued to beat estimates and the share price is currently up around 220 per cent for the year. Analysts believe revenue will come in at US$580 million while profit for the quarter will be around US$80 million.
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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-disclaimer
Lake levels are close to average, easing fears of a power shortage.