Jarden Brief: China's GDP rises by 7.9 per cent

The Chinese economy has continued to grow. Photo / Getty Images

Keeping you up to date with the latest market moves, in association with Investment firm Jarden

New Zealand

New Zealand markets traded lower on Thursday after yesterday's Reserve Bank announcement did all but confirm that interest rate hikes are expected to be on the horizon. The NZX 50 closed down 0.4 per cent at 12,671.2 points.

Leading sectors comprised of both consumer cyclicals and industrials, making gains of 0.6 and 0.3 per cent, respectively.

Restaurant Brands, the owner of the KFC franchise in New Zealand, led the way with a strong performance to close yesterday's trading up 2.6 per cent - the markets largest mover on what was a relatively quiet day.

Similarly, logistics company Mainfreight extended gains of 2.1 per cent, continuing a stellar run for the company as it pushed toward the NZ$80.00 per share price point, currently sitting at NZ$77.80.

On the flip side, consumer non cyclicals (down 2.3 per cent) and technology (down 1.3 per cent) were the laggard sectors of the day.

Weighing down index performance were the day's single stock losers a2 Milk Company and telecommunications infrastructure company Chorus.

A2 traded unfavourably (down 3.0 per cent), reversing its trend over the last few months during which the company's share price bottomed out at NZ$5.50 to then recover by more than $2.00.

Chorus was also sold off by investors during the day, slumping to a 2.7 per cent loss.
International

US

As inflationary fears rise, the major US indices were trading lower across the board. The S&P 500 decreased by 0.7 per cent, the NASDAQ dropped 1.1 per cent, and the DJIA was down 0.2 per cent.

Jerome Powell had stated that the Fed sees the current inflationary environment as temporary, and is still a fair way off altering policy – although it would act and adjust the OCR if it sees inflation persisting.

Utilities and consumer staples were the only sectors in the green, up 0.8 and 0.2 per cent, respectively. All other sectors were underperforming, with energy (-1.5 per cent) and technology (-1.1 per cent) booking the biggest losses.

US Bancorp was the best performing stock of the day, increasing by 2.9 per cent after its earnings announcement before market open.

Insurance company American International Group was also performing well, up 2.6 per cent, as the company announced it will be entering into a partnership with Blackstone. The private-equity firm will manage AIG's insurance and housing assets, after buying a 9.9 per cent stake for US$2.2 billion. Separately, Blackstone's real estate investment fund will also buy US$5.1 billion of AMP's non-core housing related assets which have been held on its books for decades.

Rounding out the leader board was packaged food company Conagra Brands, rising 2.3 per cent, recovering losses from the previous session.

Medical technology provider Telefax was the biggest loser, dropping 9.7 per cent, followed by biopharmaceutical firm Biogen declining 7.8 per cent. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings was down 5.0 per cent with the outbreak of Covid worsening in regions across the world.

Netflix (-1.3 per cent) has hired Mike Verdu as its new vice president of game development. The former executive of game makers Electronic Arts, Kabam, and Zynga is meant to help the streaming platform diversify its offerings. With no additional charge to customers the company wants to expand into video games offered on its platform within the next year.

Rest of World

The Shanghai composite (+ 1.0 per cent), the Hang Seng (+0.8 per cent) and the Shenzhen (+0.8 per cent) were performing well over night. However, the Nikkei dropped by 1.2 per cent.

China released its GDP data on Thursday, showing that the economic indicator rose by 7.9 per cent year-on-year. This was below the 8.1 per cent expectation from economists. Retail sales and industrial output fared better than analysts' expectations, increasing by 12.1 and 8.3 per cent, respectively

Commodities

Gold was trading higher, increasing 0.3 per cent to US$1,830 per ounce.
Oil dropped a further 1.5 per cent to US$72.02 per barrel.

All cryptocurrencies ware booking losses, with Bitcoin decreasing by 4.2 per cent and Ethereum falling 3.8 per cent.

Dogecoin (-6.8 per cent) co-creator Jackson Palmer took to Twitter and criticised all cryptocurrencies, calling them a hyper-capitalistic technology aimed at helping the rich get richer. He suggested that they were no longer the decentralised, libertarian alternative to traditional monetary systems, as they are, in his view, controlled by a powerful cartel of wealthy figures.

Australia

The ASX 200 was in the red yesterday, down 0.3 per cent. This was after it was announced that Melbourne will go into its fifth Covid-19 lockdown until next Thursday with a growing outbreak of the Delta strain.

Basic materials was the top performing sector, up 1.5 per cent, followed by utilities, rising 0.6 per cent. Real estate fell 1.2 per cent and healthcare was down 1.2 per cent.
In the green was motor vehicle accessory provider ARB Corp up 7.2 per cent. This gain followed the release of a market update from the company detailing sales revenue of AUS$623 for the year ended 30 June 2021, a 33.9 per cent increase on the previous financial year. Investors responded favourably to this news, pushing the stock upwards.

Gold mining company St Barbara rose 7.0 per cent, buoyed by increasing gold prices.
Spark Infrastructure Group rose 6.1 per cent to its highest price since 14 December 2017 following the release of a buyout offer. It has received an offer from Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, a Canadian pension fund. The offer of AUS$2.80 per share is at a 13 per cent premium to Wednesday's close.

Medical device company Polynova fell 8.7 per cent, coming down from recent highs earlier in the week.

Buy-now-pay-later provider Zip Co lost ground again today, down 8.7 per cent, following Apple's announcement that they will be developing their own buy-now-pay-later service with Goldman Sachs. Afterpay fared a little better, only falling 2.3 per cent.

• 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>