US President Donald Trump will be announcing the scope of his “reciprocal” tariff plan on Thursday morning (NZ time). He has said the starting point will be “all countries” as opposed to those that are running large trade deficits with the US.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1% to 42,001.76 points; S&P 500 was up 0.55% to 5611.85; and Nasdaq Composite was down 0.14% to 17,299.29.
The S&P 500 fell 5.8% in March, its steepest monthly decline in more than two years. It was also the worst quarter at the start of a president’s term since Barack Obama took over in 2009 during the Global Financial Crisis. The Nasdaq Composite was down 8.2% in March and is in a correction.
Across the region, the S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 0.88% to 7912.4 points at 6pm NZ time; Hong Kong Hang Seng had risen 0.62% to 23,263.91; and Japan’s Nikkei 225 had gained 0.25% to 35,705.9.
At home, the ANZ Business Confidence index was flat at plus 58 in March, while expected own activity rose 4 points to plus 49, past own activity lifted 4 points to 1 and past employment gained 1 point to minus 6.
Pricing and cost indicators were again up 3-4 points to the highest in a year or more, and one-year-ahead inflation expectations rose 0.1% points to 2.6%.
ANZ said the outlook survey showed the business environment is improving but isn’t easy. “Firms remain confident that better times lie ahead and are positioning themselves to take advantage of that as best they can, but many remain hampered by poor cash flow. The lift in inflation indicators is becoming a little disconcerting.”
Insurer Tower slumped 10c or 6.73% to $1.385 after the Boston-based private equity firm Bain Capital sold its 19.9% stake (totalling 68.3 million shares) to a mixture of investors at $1.30 a share. The sale was worth nearly $88.8m and will be settled on Thursday. Bain has been a shareholder since 2018.
Goodson said Tower now has a 100% free float and its weighting on the NZX will be reviewed in June.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare increased 96c or 2.86% to $34.50; and Mainfreight gained $1.02 to $62.70 despite the tariff threats.
Auckland International Airport gave back the gain from the previous day, declining 17c or 2.08% to $8.
Gentrack fell 40c or 3.49% to $11.05 after a share price inquiry from the NZX. Goodson said there was speculation of a Bulgarian contract that would be worth millions of dollars “but clearly the deal hasn’t been done yet”.
In the energy sector, Meridian increased 12c or 2.14% to $5.72; Mercury was up 7c to $5.67; and Manawa declined 17c or 3.45% to $4.76.
Investore was up 2c or 1.9% to $1.07; Vital Healthcare Property Trust added 3c or 1.8% to $1.70; Serko gained 7c or 1.77% to $4.02; and Seeka increased 9c or 2.5% to $3.69.
Michael Hill gained 1c or 2.22% to 46c; Move Logistics increased 2c or 10% to 22c; Green Cross Health improved 2c or 2.67% to 77c; and Radius Residential Care was up 1.5c or 6.98% to 23c.
Infratil declined 24c or 2.31% to $10.14; Vista Group shed 11c or 2.92% to $3.66; The Warehouse decreased 3c or 3.37% to 86c; Third Age Health eased 6c or 1.84% to $3.20; and Rakon was down 1c or 1.89% to 52c.
My Food Bag was up 0.005c or 2.65% to 19.4c after reporting unaudited full-year revenue of $162.1m, in line with the previous year. The second-half revenue of $79.9m increased 5%, pinpointing “a return to growth following a period of stable performance in a tough trading environment”.
AFT Pharmaceuticals was down 6c or 2.23% to $2.63 after a 3.46% rise the day before. AFT told the market it is advancing a novel injectable iron deficiency therapy to phase three trials in a new partnership with Belgium’s Hyloris Pharmaceuticals.
