After a near month-long suspension, the Moscow Stock Exchange has partially reopened, with only Russian government bonds allowed to trade at this stage. Photo / Bloomberg
Keeping you up to date with the latest market moves, in association with Investment firm Jarden
New Zealand
The NZX 50 remained flat yesterday, with very little market news.
The top performer of the day was retirement village operator Arvida Group, rising 4.4 per cent. Film technology business Vista Group International climbed 2.8 per cent. Healthcare distributor EBOS Group also performed well, rising 2.3 per cent.
On the flip side, Auckland Airport led yesterday's underperformers, falling 4.0 per cent. Agribusiness Scales Corp closely followed, decreasing 3.7 per cent. Real estate companies Property for Industry and Kiwi Property Group rounded out the bottom movers, both falling 2.3 per cent.
Yesterday, Summerset director James Ogden confirmed his retirement from the board after 11 years, from April 27. The retirement village operator's share price fell 1.8 per cent.
Fonterra announced the exit of its Russian business, following the invasion of Ukraine. After exporting butter to Russia for more than 40 years, the dairy co-operative plans to close its office in Moscow, relocate staff where possible and withdraw from their joint venture Unifood.
Cabinet met yesterday to discuss any developments to vaccine requirements, certificates, and the traffic light system, which will be outlined on Wednesday.
International
US
All major US indices were in the red at the time of writing. The S&P 500 was down 0.6 per cent, the Nasdaq dropped 1.2 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.0 per cent.
Only three sectors were in the green, comprising energy (+3.1 per cent), utilities (+0.4 per cent), and materials (+0.4 per cent). All other sectors were underperforming, with the largest losses coming from consumer services (-1.5 per cent), consumer discretionary (-1.3 per cent) and technology (-1.2 per cent).
The Mosaic Company was the top performer, up 8.1 per cent. The fertiliser producer hit a 52-week high after a previous close of US$62.08.
Occidental Petroleum gained 7.9 per cent, also hitting a 52-week high. The company specialises in oil and gas exploration in the US, Middle East, and Africa.
Exploration and production company Marathon Oil rounded out the top movers with a rise of 7.3 per cent.
The biggest laggard at the time of writing was Nielsen Holdings, down 7.4 per cent. This comes after the information, data and market measurement firm rejected a private-equity US$9.1 billion ($13.2b) takeover bid worth US$25.40 per share. Nielsen Holdings stated the reason for the rejection was that the offer significantly undervalued the company.
Software developer EPAM systems and gaming and hospitality company Caesars Entertainment decreased 5.0 and 4.5 per cent, respectively.
Aerospace firm Boeing declined 4.4 per cent after one of its 737 passenger jets crashed in China yesterday. At the time of writing, searches continued for the 132 people on board.
US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell vowed tough action against inflation which he believes threatens an otherwise strong economic recovery. Powell said rate hikes will continue until inflation comes under control and he indicated that hikes above 25 basis points were on the table.
Rest of the world
Asian markets were mixed overnight. The Shanghai Composite increased 0.1 per cent, the Nikkei rose 0.7 per cent, and the Hang Seng declined 0.9 per cent.
European markets also showed mixed performance. The FTSE rose 0.5 per cent, the DAX was down 0.6 per cent and the CAC decreased 0.6 per cent.
The Moscow Stock Exchange partially reopened, after a near month-long suspension, with only Russian government bonds allowed to trade at this stage. In pre-market trading, yields on those government bonds rallied by about 20 per cent, with a correction to around 13 per cent when the market opened.
Commodities
Gold traded 0.1 per cent higher to US$1,930.70 per ounce, while silver gained 1.0 per cent to US$25.34 per ounce.
Oil also performed well, rallying 5.0 per cent to US$109.92 per barrel.
The cryptocurrency market was mostly in the green, up 0.1 per cent. Bitcoin underperformed by 0.7 per cent while Ethereum rose 2.3 per cent.
The US 10-year Treasury rate increased 15 basis points to 2.301 per cent alongside a 10-basis point gain in the 30-year rate, to 2.520 per cent.
Australia
The ASX 200 closed in the red on Monday, down 0.2 per cent at 7278.50 points.
Six of the 11 sectors experienced declines yesterday. Led lower by industrials (-1.2 per cent) and healthcare (-1.0 per cent). Information technology and utilities were the best performing sectors, increasing 2.5 and 0.8 per cent, respectively.
Life360 booked the biggest gains, rising 6.4 per cent. The location services provider continued its general upward trend from last week.
Pre-paid financial cards issuer EML Payments also performed well, increasing 6.1 per cent.
Rounding out the top movers was precious metals explorer Liontown Resources, gaining 5.4 per cent. The company announced on Monday that it produced positive drilling results at its Buldania Lithium Project in Western Australia, confirming the project's growth potential.
Yesterday's largest laggard was Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals, falling 4.9 per cent.
Funds management company Magellan Financial Group declined 4.3 per cent, following co-founder and executive director Hamish Douglass' resignation from the board yesterday. Douglass has stated that the resignation is attributed to medical leave of absence. He has been on leave since the beginning of February, when he stood down from being chief investment officer. Amid the uncertainty, the stock has fallen over a quarter in value year to date.
Closing out the bottom movers was commercial malt producer company United Malt, decreasing 3.8 per cent.
With the help of commodity price rallies and interest rate hikes, the Australian dollar has come out as one of the leading currencies based on performance this year. For the first time in 2022, the Australian dollar finished above 74 US cents, closing at 74.15 US cents at the end of last week. The currency is currently up 2.0 per cent since the start of 2022.
• For more information on the latest market moves, get in touch with Jarden.
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