Exchange operator NZX recovered from Tuesday's 3.2 per cent loss with a 5.0 per cent recovery. This week it announced that it was launching a new ESG index to cater for the increasing incorporation of ESG principals into portfolios.
Fletcher Building rose by 3.3 per cent, recovering some of last week's decline.
Mercury rose by 3.2 per cent. This week it announced the addition of Dennis Barnes to the Board, replacing Keith Smith after his 12 years of service. Also released was the Quarterly Operational Update for the three months ended 30 June. This outlined a fall in hydro generation volumes due to reduced inflows and reduced geothermal generation due to the unplanned Kawerau power station outage. New Zealand's Electricity spot price rose reflecting nationally low hydro storage and issues with gas deliverability.
On the flip side, EBOS Group was the worst performer of the NZX 50 yesterday. The wholesaler and distributer of healthcare, medical and pharmaceutical products fell by 1.9 per cent.
Auckland International Airport fell by 1.6 per cent. Likely a reaction to continuing Covid-19 concerns in Australia. Rounding out the worst performers of the NZX 50 yesterday was Kathmandu, down 1.4 per cent.
Dairy prices fell again at this week's dairy auction, making this the seventh consecutive decline. The global dairy price index fell by 2.9 per cent compared to the previous fortnight. Synlait Milk fell by 1.0 per cent yesterday while A2 Milk rose by 2.3 per cent.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand's credit card spending data was released yesterday. It showed a 3.7 per cent decline in June compared to May of domestic billings on New Zealand issued credit cards.
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS:
United States:
US Markets were in the green again this morning, continuing the recovery from Monday's trading session. At the time of writing, The S&P 500 had risen 0.7 per cent, the Nasdaq was up 0.6 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 0.7 per cent.
Energy and financials had made the biggest gains at the time of writing, up 3.9 and 2.0 per cent, respectively. The only sectors in the red were utilities, falling 0.7 per cent, and consumer staples, down 0.1 per cent.
Chipotle Mexican Grill, the top gainer at time of writing, surged 12.7 per cent at the time of writing to a new 52-week high. This followed the release of its quarterly results which exceeded expectations. Revenue increased 38.7 per cent to US$1.9 billion.
Advertising company Interpublic Group of Companies was up 12.6 per cent. Second quarter 2021 revenue of US$2.27 billion was 22.5 per cent higher than the same quarter of 2020, with growth of 9.0 to 10.0 per cent expected for the full year.
Netflix, the largest underperformer at time of writing, had declined by 4.2 per cent at the time of writing, with earnings guidance missed in the third quarter reporting. Earnings per share of US$2.97 was below the US$3.16 estimates, subscriber acquisition was also substantially below market expectation. Investors responded unfavourably, pushing the stock downwards.
Seagate Technology Holdings was down 3.7 per cent with fourth quarter 2021 results reported and revenue of US$3 billion, up 20 per cent in the same period a year ago. Despite beating expectations, growth was established to slow going forward which had investors responding with a sell off.
Rest of the World Markets:
Asian markets were mixed this morning responding to the US market's continuing recovery. The Nikkei rose 0.6 per cent, the Hang Seng declined by 0.1 per cent and the Shanghai Composite recovered from yesterday, up 0.7 per cent.
Commodities:
Gold fell by 0.5 per cent to trade at US$1,803.30 per ounce. Oil continued to claw back from Monday's 8.0 per cent loss, up 4.7 per cent to US$70.34 per barrel at the time of writing, once again exceeding the US$70.00 mark.
The US 10-year bond is now priced at 1.29 per cent.
Cryptocurrencies had a strong morning, with Bitcoin surging 7.8 per cent, beyond US$30,000 to US$32,161.04 and Ethereum shooting up 9.6 per cent to US$1,967.52.
Australian Markets:
The ASX 200 slightly improved on Wednesday, closing 0.8 per cent higher at 7,308.70 points.
Most sectors traded in the green, with healthcare (+1.1 per cent) and materials (+1.1 per cent) booking the biggest gains of the day. Industrials (-0.7 per cent) and information technology (-0.5 per cent) were the only two sectors that lost ground.
Pilbara Minerals was the best performer in Wednesday's session, increasing by 5.5 per cent. The lithium and tantalum producer announced yesterday, that its June 2021 Quarterly Activities Report will be released on 29 July 2021.
Next in line was multinational contractor Cimic Group, up 4.5 per cent. Yesterday, the company announced its financial results for the six months ending 30 June 2021. Net profit after tax was AU$208 million, with revenue growth on a group level by 10.6 per cent to AU$7.1 billion.
Rounding out the top performers of the day was online bookmaker Pointsbet Holdings, rising 4.0 per cent.
The worst performer of the day was the developer of computer software for the design of electronic products, Altium, dropping 5.0 per cent.
Investment and superannuation platform Hub24 also underperformed, decreasing 3.9 per cent.
Lastly, oil and gas explorer Beach Energy declined by 3.2 per cent. The market reacted unfavourably to the company's FY21 fourth quarter activities report. This report stated a 7 per cent increase in quarterly sales revenue to AU$421 million.
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