Jarden Brief: Kiwi cannabis company still $1.5m short of capital raise target

Cannabis firm Cannasouth needs to raise more funds by September. Photo / Jason Oxenham

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

New Zealand:

On Tuesday, the NZX 50 was relatively flat, closing only 2.47 points lower than on the previous day.

Healthcare and utility stocks were the best performing sectors of the session, closing 0.8 and 0.5 per cent higher. On the flipside, energy and financials dragged the market down, decreasing by 1.4 and 0.9 per cent, respectively.

The top gainer of the day was Tourism Holdings, rising 2.1 per cent. Auckland International Airport increased by 1.1 per cent. The motorhome rental company and airport operator likely benefitted from the government announcement that seasonal workers from Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu would be able to enter New Zealand without quarantine from September onwards.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare also performed well, up 1.4 per cent.

Port of Tauranga underperformed the most, decreasing by 2.5 per cent. Next in line was rubber products producer, Skellerup Holdings, down 2.5 per cent, with the main drop in price occuring in the last half an hour of trading. Rounding out the worst performers of the day was logistics giant Mainfreight, falling 2.1 per cent, negating some of the gains made on Friday and Monday.

NZX listed medical cannabis company Cannasouth, currently trading at 42 cents, fell $1.5 million short in its latest capital raise. The company requires $6 million to secure its cultivation joint venture acquisition. It will need to raise the missing capital before the end of September to meet the conditions of the deal for the purchase of the outstanding 50.0 per cent of its cultivation arm.

Fonterra's removal of volume ahead of this morning's GDT auction did not have the desired effect, with the headline dairy index down 1.0 per cent. WMP was the biggest culprit with its average down 3.8 per cent and while there was improvement in the other products, it wasn't enough to offset the largest contributor to milk price.
International Markets:

US:

At the time of writing the major US indices were all in green this morning. The S&P 500 was trading up 0.7 per cent, the DJIA increased by 0.6 per cent, and the NASDAQ was up 0.3 per cent.

Ten of 11 sectors had increased. Energy and industrials were the best performing sectors, rising 1.4 and 1.2 per cent, respectively. The only declining sector at the time of writing was communication services which had fallen by 0.4 per cent.

Gartner reached a new 52-week high and was the top performer of the S&P500, surging 10.3 per cent. The research and advisory company reported second-quarter results with earnings per share of US$2.24 and revenue of US$1.17 billion for the second quarter. The results announcement exceeded market expectations and saw the stock surge.

Another stock to hit a 52-week high at the time of writing this morning was Moderna, rising 7.6 per cent. Moderna is the creator of a two-dose Covid-19 vaccine which is currently being administered in the US as part of the vaccine rollout. The new concerns around the emergence of the Delta variant as a widespread downside risk has likely fuelled the Moderna share price improvement.

IPG Photonics slipped a significant 17.6 per cent. The fibre laser developer and manufacturer reported second-quarter earnings per share of US$1.29, below the expected US$1.40. While revenue for the quarter rose 25.4 per cent on the same period last year to US$371.70, last year was likely Covid-19 affected. IPG Photonics missed its earnings per share expectations, disappointing the market.

Another underperformer was Leidos Holdings which fell 11.2 per cent. Science, engineering and IT company Leidos Holdings also reported second-quarter financial year 2021 results. Earnings per share was US$1.52 compared to last year's second-quarter EPS of US$1.58.

Rest of the World Markets:

The Nikkei traded down 0.5 per cent, the Hang Seng down 0.2 per cent and the declined by 0.5 per cent.

Commodities

Gold lost yesterday's gains, falling 0.5 per cent to US$1,813.40 per ounce.

Oil was trading lower again, down 1.1 per cent to US$70.48 per barrel. This comes as Covid-19 continues to present a growth concern globally.

Cryptocurrencies were in the red, continuing a volatile month. Bitcoin had decreased 3.8 per cent and Ethereum had declined by 6.0 per cent at the time of writing.

Finally, the US 10-year treasury bond rate was yielding 1.177 per cent.

Australian Markets:

The ASX finished down 0.2 per cent yesterday, with stock prices moderating the big gains seen on Monday, as well as in response to a soft manufacturing print out of the US overnight.

Recent acquisition target AfterPay added another 11.4 per cent to A$127.85 as the best performer of the day, following a 10.2 per cent increase from acquiring company Square Inc overnight. It is likely that the AfterPay stock price will continue to track Square's, given the structure of the deal which essentially link the value of both together. Zip Co (+7.5 per cent) and Sezzle (+2.8 per cent) followed the sector up.

Meanwhile, sports wagering company PointsBet dropped 11.2 per cent to A$9.73 after completing the A$400 million capital raise it began last Thursday.

Weighing the index down however were heavyweight banking stocks Commonwealth Bank (-0.2 per cent), ANZ Group (-0.7 per cent), National Australia Bank (-0.8 per cent) and Westpac (-0.9 per cent). The four major banks together make up around A$550 billion in market cap, a significant portion of the ASX 200. Basic material stocks also continued to fall after the iron ore price failed to recover over the weekend, with BHP Group dropping 1.4 per cent, Rio Tinto falling 0.6 per cent and Fortescue sliding another 1.6 per cent.

Retail stocks Breville (-1.3 per cent) and Harvey Norman (-0.2 per cent) slid slightly after fears that the new hard lockdowns in China in response to the Delta variant may cause incremental supply chain issues for Australian retailers. On the other hand, MightyApe-owner Kogan rallied 2.8 per cent after some signs that web traffic was positive.

In macroeconomic news, the Reserve Bank of Australia decided to maintain the cash rate at 10 basis points for now, and to continue its $5 billion per week quantitative easing programme until early September – an interesting move considering the RBNZ's decision to stop its own programme early due to fears of inflation.

• 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>