The bull market in the United States – though interrupted by brief periods of volatility – has completed two years with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, breaking through the 43,000 points level, and S&P 500 indices reaching new highs.
As the third quarter reporting season gets into full swing, the Dow Jones was up 0.47% to 43,065.22 points, and S&P 500 increased 0.77% to 5859.85.
The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.87% to 18,502.69 points, again driven by the Magnificent Seven tech stocks which together have risen 170% since October 2022.
In that time, the S&P 500 has surged 63% including a gain of 23% so far this year. The average return of the first two years of all bull markets since World War II is 60%.
At home, cinema management software firm Vista Group was up 9c or 2.97% to $3.12 and has risen nearly 120% over the past 12 months. A Covid casualty, Vista has stormed back from $1.23 on April 28 last year.
Fisher Funds, the second largest shareholder with 14.4%, has written to Vista Group saying it does not support the appointment of two Admetus Capital (Potentia)-nominated directors and will not back the removal of current directors Susan Peterson and Kirk Senior.
Potentia has called a special meeting of shareholders to vote on the appointment of its nominated directors – but one of them, Peter James, has withdrawn his name.
Fletcher Building increased 10c or 3.24% to $3.19 after completing its $700m capital raise and shareholders received their new shares at $2.40 each.
Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 34c to $37.13; Contact Energy gained 19c or 2.25% to $8.65; Chorus increased 9c to $8.85; Infratil collected 15.5c to $12.345; Scott Technology added 6c or 3.02% to $2.05; and Winton Land was up 10c or 4.69% to $2.23.
Retirement village operators Summerset gained 16c to $12.31, and Ryman Healthcare increased 10c or 2.04% to $4.99.
Dual-listed banks ANZ was up 66c or 1.96% to $34.26, and Westpac also gained 66c or 1.93% to $34.91.
Auckland International Airport, up 4c to $7.48, reported 1.48 million passengers in September, similar to the same month last year, and representing 90% of pre-Covid activity. International passengers totalling 806,638 was up 2% and domestic of 673,615 was down 3%.
The airport said much of the domestic weakness was on the Auckland to Wellington route with 14,000 fewer passengers or an 8% decline.
Other gainers were Synlait Milk up 1.5c or 3.8% to 41c; Comvita collecting 2c or 1.72% to $1.18; and Burger Fuel increasing 1.5c or 5.17% to 30.5c.
Gentrack fell 39c or 3.58% to $10.50; Mainfreight decreased 51c to $73; a2 Milk declined 7c to $7.05; Skellerup Holdings shed 10c or 2.17% to $4.51; and PGG Wrightson eased 6c or 3.13% to $1.86.
Meridian Energy was down 2c to $5.85 after reporting that September total inflows were 223% of average, and retail sales volumes were 4.9% lower.
Meridian, which held its annual meeting, said national hydro storage had increased from 99% to 115% by October 7, but it has still been warm and national electricity demand was 5.2% lower.
Other decliners were Serko shedding 9c or 3.16% to $2.76; Being AI down 2c or 3.33% to 58c; ikeGPS falling 3c or 4.76% to 60c; 2 Cheap Cars decreasing 2c or 2.6% to 75c; Ventia Services easing 9c to $5.16; and Pacific Edge down 0.006c or 3.73% to 15.5c.
Smartpay was down 14c or 14.07% to 85.5c after telling the market it is engaged with the Reserve Bank of Australia which is reviewing debit card surcharging rules and possible changes.
Arvida Group, which has been taken over by New York-based investment firm Stonepeak, will be removed from the NZX 50 on October 22 and will be replaced by Kiwi insurer Tower, unchanged at $1.36.
Investment Funds Marlin Global, up 2c or 2.2% to 93; Barramundi, down 1c to 67c; and Kingfish, down 2c to $1.27, told the market they were resuming their buy-back (shares) programme.
