The Government's law changes could have a major impact on the rental market. Photo / 123RF
Keeping you up to date with the latest market moves, in association with Investment firm Jarden
New Zealand
The S&P NZX50 index rose 0.7 per cent yesterday, buoyed by sector gains from healthcare and consumer non-cyclicals which led the way up 2.9 and 1.3 per cent respectively.
Most of the healthcare sector increase can be attributed to the days' highest gainer, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare. The stock climbed 3.5 per cent by close of trading, continuing its strong run since this time last month.
Joining Fisher and Paykel was church payment services platform Pushpay, which also saw a handsome gain of 3.5 per cent.
Sector losers on the day included Energy and Technology, which each fell 2.5 and 2.1 per cent respectively.
Dairy conglomerate, Fonterra Shareholders Fund, was down 4.4 per cent, with farmers selling shares in line with the cooperative's guidelines.
Another underperforming stock was travel solutions provider, Serko Ltd - falling 3.3 per cent despite Tuesday's travel bubble announcement, which is expected to increase corporate travel volumes between Australia and New Zealand.
Yesterday saw more survey data released as economists continue to predict the housing market's reaction in response to the NZ government's new housing policies. Last week, independent economist, Tony Alexander, published survey results which showed that approximately 74 per cent of landlords (out of a sample of 3400) were likely to raise rents to cover the cost of abiding by the new laws.
This week, Alexander in conjunction with REINZ, focussed on potential house price reaction. For the first time since mid-year 2020, real estate agents have reported seeing a net decrease in people attending both auctions and open homes. While 56 per cent of agents continue to feel house prices are rising, this is down from March's figure which was well above 80 per cent. Lastly, agents were noticing fewer first home buyers in the market, at 14 per cent, down from February's 32 per cent. These figures display mixed reactions from both investors and first home buyers in response to last week's housing policy announcement.
INTERNATIONAL
US:
After the US Federal Reserve Bank released its meeting minutes earlier today, the S&P500 and NASDAQ were trading up 0.2 per cent, while the DJIA was unchanged.
At the time of writing, Communication Services and Energy were the top performing sectors, increasing 0.8 and 0.6 per cent, respectively. The worst performing sectors were Materials and Utilities, down 1.5 and 0.6 per cent, respectively.
The biggest gainers at the time of writing were specialty retailer, L Brands, increasing 4.3 per cent, graphics card company NVIDIA, rising 2.5 per cent, and Twitter, up 2.3 per cent. L Brands owns brands like Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works and its shares hit a 52-week high in this session.
The top decliners were specialty chemical producer, Albemarle, down 4.6 per cent, Enphase Energy, decreasing 4.0 per cent, and hardware, software and services technology company, Trimble, down 3.6 per cent.
There are talks about an IPO for the Indian e-commerce company, Flipcart, by the end of this year. The company is owned by US retailer, Walmart (-0.2 per cent) and is considering listing in the US with a potential valuation of about US$35 billion.
Rest of the world:
The Shanghai Composite fell a slim 0.1 per cent, the Nikkei traded up 0.1 per cent, and the Hangseng was down 0.9 per cent.
Samsung Electronics (-0.5 per cent) reported a 44 per cent increase in profit for the first quarter compared to the previous year in its preliminary results released yesterday. The power failure of the Texas plant at the beginning of this year was outweighed by the early release of the S21 smartphone in January. The operating income was US$8.3 billion, and sales rose 17 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Yesterday, the International Monetary Fund upgraded its global economic growth forecast for the second time this year, to 6 per cent. This figure is the highest since records began and comes after a 3.3 per cent contraction last year, caused by the pandemic. The IMF is urging wealthier nations to help poorer ones, due to disparities in the ability to combat COVID-19.
Commodities:
Gold decreased 0.2 per cent to US$1,740.40. Oil increased 0.3 per cent.
Cryptocurrencies were in the red, with Bitcoin down 3.4 per cent and Ethereum falling 6.6 per cent.
The cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is set for a direct listing on the NASDAQ next week and was profiting from the huge gains made by cryptocurrencies over the last year. In its preliminary and unaudited results released on Tuesday, the company reported a nine-fold increase in revenue, from US$190.6 million to US$1.8 billion.
The US 10-year bond yield was flat at 1.65 per cent and the lowest in a week.
Australia
Australian stocks were up yesterday. The ASX200 closed 0.6 per cent higher with all 11 sectors rising. This was led by the Energy and A-REIT sectors, which respectively rose 1.4 and 1.2 per cent.
Lithium and tantalum company, Pilbara Minerals, was the outperformer of the day, up 6.4 per cent.
Incitec Pivot rose 5.6 per cent and recovered some ground following their fall the previous day. The industrial chemical, fertiliser and explosives company's price rebound yesterday was reflective of wider market trends in rising fertiliser prices.
The largest fall in share price yesterday came from cement company, Adbri, which fell 5.0 per cent. A portion of this decline was attributable to the company going ex-dividend, however.
Waste management company, Cleanaway, was the second worst performer, down 4.7 during yesterday's trading session – a slight correction after a 15.9 per cent surge in its stock price.
The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Index showed consumer confidence reduced in March 2021. Both expectations of inflation and house price inflation fell slightly.
However, a net 30 per cent of consumers expect to be better off next year than this year, up 3 per cent. Consumer confidence is often a driver of inflation with expectations of price rises able to drive real price increases.
The Australian Construction Index was released yesterday. It outlined that construction in March surged to the highest level since the index began in 2005. Investors may take this as a strong result for the construction sector.
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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-disclaimer
Around 18,500 public servants received a pay rise in the quarter.