Energy stocks were also key upward movers as Solaredge Technologies and Enphase Energy topped the leaderboard with 8.0 and 7.4 per cent gains, respectively.
Building on yesterday’s inflation data, the US Producer Prices Index (PPI) fell in March by the most since the start of the Covid pandemic with the headline figure of -0.5 per cent well below analyst expectations for a roughly flat reading.
Excluding food and energy, the index still declined 0.1 per cent vs the surveyed 0.2 per cent increase. Furthermore, US weekly jobless claims came in at 239,000, slightly above the predicted 235,000.
Interesting news involved the announcement of a partnership between social media platform Twitter and trading company eToro, with Twitter allowing its users to trade cryptocurrencies, stocks and other financial assets on its platform via eToro.
The deal is one of several high profile developments since Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchased the company for US$44 billion last year, with this just one step in his plan to make Twitter an all-encompassing “super app”.
Rest of the World
Upbeat commentary from Joachim Nagel may have helped spur investor sentiment in Europe after the Bundesbank President exclaimed the “energy crisis is more or less solved” and talked to continued underlying resilience in the European and German economies, making him more positive than the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which anticipates a recession in Germany and the UK in 2024.
New York Stock Exchange-listed Alibaba rebounded 2.5 per cent through the majority of Thursday’s trading in response to a 6.0 per cent sell-off the previous day.
On Wednesday (US time) it was reported that Softbank had sold down some of its stake in the company.
New Zealand
New Zealand equities found a 0.1 per cent gain with the index finishing at 11,930.9 points by the close of Thursday’s trading.
Stock-specific news included small cap phosphate producer Chatham Rock Phosphate which announced a private placement of 30 million shares, roughly NZD$4.6 million.
Proceeds are said to be used to fast-track the development of current and planned projects, while also shoring up balance sheet and working capital requirements as the company looks to further expand operations.
In a press conference on Thursday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins floated some changes to the controversial Three Waters reforms, re-labelling the project “Affordable Water Reforms” with the key change being the original four entities to be increased to 10 – hopefully allowing local councils more direct engagement with these larger controlling authorities.
The estimated countrywide investment in local water infrastructure is expected to be in the region of NZ$130 - $185 billion over the next 30 years.
Australia
The ASX200 finished 0.3 per cent lower, weighed down by underwhelming performances from Block Inc, Champion Iron and Dominos Pizza which lost 5.8, 4.0 and 3.8 per cent respectively, comprising the bottom three performers in Thursday’s trading.
Block Inc’s stock price was found wanting following news a group of former Afterpay Shareholders have brought a class action against Block (which acquired Afterpay in January 2022) claiming the company failed to disclose a significant data breach which occurred before the acquisition.
The claim argues that in December 2021 a former employee accessed and downloaded account information of 8.2 million Afterpay users.
On the flipside, single stock movers were led by Corporate Travel Management Ltd whose shares jumped 12 per cent, close to its largest movement since 2020.
The move can be attributed to the company winning an A$3 billion contract with the UK’s home office, with revenue from the deal flowing through in its fiscal year 2024.
Macroeconomic data came in the form of labour market statistics as Australian unemployment remained at 3.5 per cent in March, supported by a strong increase in employment (up 53,000 month-on-month) and well ahead of expectations for closer to a 20,000 increase.
Furthermore, the participation rate rose 0.1 per cent, close to a near record high at 66.7 per cent. These statistics could be seen to indicate a steady labour market showing limited signs of cooling, adding pressure on the RBA before its interest rate decision next month.
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