The market has remained volatile through 2022. Photo / Getty Images
Keeping you up to date with the latest market moves, in association with Investment firm Jarden
New Zealand
The NZX 50 declined 1.8 per cent yesterday, beginning the week in the red. Only six companies in the NZX 50 ended the day higher.
Top performers were banks Westpac Banking Corporation and ANZ, rising 4.7 and 1.3 per cent, respectively. Westpac rose on the back of the completion of an A$3.5 billion off-market share buy-back.
Arvida was another outperformer, up 1.2 per cent.
Pushpay Holdings declined 4.9 per cent, continuing last week's downturn.
Oceania Healthcare fell 4.5 per cent on what appears to be no news, and Tourism Holdings lost 4.3 per cent.
SkyCity Entertainment Group reported its first half financial year 2022 result. The half was impacted by Covid-19 lockdowns, with its Auckland casino closed for 107 days. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation declined 70 per cent to $36.2 million. SkyCity's share price declined 3.7 per cent yesterday.
Contact Energy also released its first half financial year 2022 results, which were broadly in line with market expectations, rising 0.1 per cent yesterday. Contact confirmed a first half dividend of 14 cents per share.
In macro-economic news, New Zealand food prices rose 2.7 per cent month on month in January, the highest monthly price increase since January 2017. Main contributors were fruit and vegetable prices, up 9.9 per cent, and meat, poultry, and fish prices, which rose 3.6 per cent.
International
US
The major US indices were mixed this morning after trading lower across the board at the end of last week in response to the higher-than-expected inflation results. The S&P 500 decreased 0.2 per cent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.5 per cent, and the NASDAQ rose 0.7 per cent.
Consumer discretionary (+1.6 per cent), communication services (+0.8 per cent), and technology (+0.5 per cent) were all trading in the green at the time of writing. All other sectors were underperforming, led by energy (-3.0 per cent) and utilities (-1.5 per cent).
Leading the S&P 500 higher this morning was integrated resort developer and operator Las Vegas Sands, rising 5.0 per cent.
Next in line was online travel booking platform Expedia Group, trading 4.8 per cent higher.
Netflix also performed well, increasing 4.0 per cent.
On the flip side, the worst performer at the time of writing was biotechnology company Moderna, dropping 11.9 per cent. On Friday, the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) safety committee revealed that it was reviewing reports of menstrual disorders in women that received Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. It said that it was not yet clear that there was a causal link between the vaccine and those reports. The EMA also noted that these menstrual disorders can occur due to a range of reasons and have also been reported following Covid-19 infection.
CF Industrial Holdings also underperformed, decreasing 9.1 per cent. The hydrogen and nitrogen products manufacturer went ex-dividend today.
Rounding out the bottom movers on the S&P 500 was energy holding company APA Corp, trading 5.8 per cent lower. The company will post its quarterly earnings results after market close on Monday, 21 February 2022.
This week the Senate Banking Committee meets to vote on Fed chair Jerome Powell's reappointment. Powell currently serves as interim chair, as his term expired earlier this month.
Companies reporting their earnings this week include NVIDIA, Walmart, and Roku, among others.
Rest of the World
The major Asian indices all underperformed overnight. The Shanghai Composite decreased 1.0 per cent, the Nikkei closed 2.2 per cent lower, and the Hang Seng declined 1.4 per cent.
Commodities
Gold was performing well at the time of writing, rising 1.2 per cent to US$1,863.40 per ounce.
Oil also traded higher, up 0.4 per cent to US$93.54 per barrel. At an oil and gas exhibition in Cairo, Egypt, energy ministers from Egypt and Cyprus spoke about their concerns that oil has the potential to rise to above US$100 per barrel as continued tensions in the Ukraine threaten oil supply from Russia.
Cryptocurrencies were mainly in the green, with Bitcoin and Ethereum trading higher, up 0.8 and 2.0 per cent, respectively. On Monday, the US Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) announced that it had agreed to a settlement with the crypto platform BlockFi. The company will have to pay US$50 million to the SEC and another US$50 million to a group of 32 states over charges that it offered interest-bearing accounts without registering them as securities.
The US 10-year treasury rate rose to 2.017 per cent at the time of writing, after declining to 1.95 per cent at the end of last week.
Australia
Australian equities pushed higher during Monday's trading with the ASX 200 rising 0.4 per cent to finish at 7,243.9 points.
Energy (+3.4 per cent) and utilities (+1.9 per cent) led the sectors, while healthcare (-1.4 per cent) and industrials (-0.7 per cent) were the laggard sectors of the day.
Beach Energy supported overall sector gains, with a 9.4 per cent jump by Monday's close. The oil and gas exploration company hit a 10-month high after posting robust half year earnings of A$212.9 million (up 66 per cent from the previous period) while reiterating full year guidance. Furthermore, a lofty oil price appears to have propped up investor confidence, with worldwide oil prices continuing to rise.
Gold miners Regis Resources (+8.2 per cent) and Evolution Mining (+7.9 per cent) rounded out the single stock winners podium yesterday. Like Beach Energy, both companies benefited from the rise in underlying commodity prices after a rally across all bullion over the weekend.
On the flip side, battery producer Novonix Ltd fell 10.8 per cent to continue a poor month for the stock, which has seen it fall 39 per cent. Cancer immunotherapy company Imugene and battery materials exploration company Liontown Resources also traded lower, down 9.5 and 7.9 per cent, respectively. Novonix and Liontown were likely impacted by the rising oil price.
In other news, the board of Australian casino and hotel giant Crown Resorts have officially accepted an A$8.9 billion takeover bid from American private equity firm Blackstone. The deal will now officially entitle shareholders to A$13.1 per share, with the stock currently trading at A$12.6, up 2.0 per cent during Monday's session.
• For more information on the latest market moves, get in touch with Jarden.
Disclaimer: The Jarden Brief is provided for general information purposes only. It reflects views and research available 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. The Jarden 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 financial advice disclosure statement is available free of charge at https://www.jarden.co.nz/our-services/wealth-management/financial-advice-provider-disclosure-statement/ Full disclaimer available at: https://www.jarden.co.nz/wealth-sales-and-research-disclaimer
Fruit prices go bananas but vegetable costs plummet.