New Zealand sharemarket up as Trump eases tariff stance – Market close

US President Donald Trump has eased his language around his tariff stance, to the relief of investors.

The New Zealand sharemarket rose today after US President Donald Trump eased his language around tariffs, to the relief of investors.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed up 0.67% or 81.05 points, rising to 12,098.89, with 51,169,807 shares changing hands to the value of $151.1 million.

The S&P/NZX20 index closed at 7,173.61, up 0.59%, while the S&P/NZX10 index closed at 1,834.79, up 0.76%.

There were 81 gainers on the main board and 49 decliners.

Pacific Edge had another rough day on the market after its key testing procedure, Cxbladder tests, was excluded from coverage in the US’s Medicare scheme.

Shares in Pacific Edge fell by 23.68% to $0.08, down 2c with 2,187,871 shares trading hands to the value of $183,883.01.

Hamilton Hindin Greene investment adviser Jeremy Sullivan said that Pacific Edge did not have many assets available.

“It’s 60% of their revenues that they’re not going to be reimbursed for, and the company’s balance sheet is relatively weak. They’ve got about 11 months worth of cash on hand,” Sullivan said.

“Whether it will be a capital raise in the not too distant future, I’m sure they’ll try and contest it or find another court ruling in their favour or one that actually has jurisdiction, but it’s a massive blow for a company which has been struggling post-Covid.”

The Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund also had a lot of movement today, after the Supreme Court of New South Wales was unable to determine whether the provisions of Fonterra’s licensing agreement with Bega Cheese are impacted by a divestment process.

Its share price fell by 1.80% to $5.45, down 10c, with 118,893 shares trading hands to the value of $658,405.73.

“They’re looking at selling Mainland Group, whether it be through IPO or trade sale. They have an IP agreement with Bega Cheese in place since 2001,” Sullivan said.

“Interestingly, their lawyers have said that it may kill the deal and that it may have a material adverse impact on the valuation of it. The cheese only makes up about 6% of their total revenue for the group, so it’s not huge, but potentially an overhang which would mean a lower price.”

Other shares that had a lot of movement on Monday included Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Infratil.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare saw its share price rise by 3.19% to $34.62, up $1.07 with 430,097 shares trading hands to the value of $14,932,549.21.

Infratil was up 2.12% or 22c to $10.61 with 1,378,599 shares trading hands to the value of $14,652,563.38.

Wall Street stocks finished higher Friday, extending a rebound following a tonal shift from Trump on tariffs and the US Federal Reserve.

Two of the three major stock indices won solid gains, although analysts described caution ahead of this week’s heavy schedule of corporate earnings and economic data.

The “soft data has been showing very negative signs for the economy, but it hasn’t really gone through to the hard data”, Victoria Fernandez of Crossmark Global Investments said.

Reports on the labour market and other key indicators will show if “we are truly weakening or not”, Fernandez said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a 0.1% gain at 40,113.50.

The broad-based S&P 500 climbed 0.7% to 5,525.21, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.3% to 17,382.94.

– Additional reporting AFP

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.